a/n: They're about 40 here, by the way. Enjoy!

Glinda had a date with a friend. This was an important date, the kind of date that you spent the day anticipating; or the whole week; or the last two months. That date was tonight, and she had been stuck talking to the dreariest dignitaries in Oz all day. There were only so many petty complaints you could hear in a day before you started contemplating homicide, even when you were the Witch of Oz herself.

"We are concerned about the continued drought in Nest Hardings. We agreed we should source from Illwater."

"The lake by Wend Hardings?" She asked, barely masking her exhaustion. They nodded. Glinda glanced at Boq, her primary advisor on Munchkinland matters. "No, I won't allow it."

"These are dire times, your Grace-"

"You do not have the figures to support such a claim," Boq interrupted, "And even if you did, we would not sanction such a move. Did you forget that Nest Hardings has been at its most productive in a hundred years? Our province is recovering from drought."

"We may be recovering, but it is still drought! Your lack of compassion is disturbing." This was directed at Glinda. "Nest Hardings is the heart of Munchkinland, and Illswater would be a more stable supply of water."

Glinda narrowed her eyes minutely. "You are all well aware that Wend Hardings has one of the highest Animal populations in Munchkinland, and you are well aware that Illwater is its primary water source." She looked at Boq for confirmation, which she received. "You will be in violation of the Consideration for Animals act."

"We will limit the draw to allow Wend Hardings to-"

"Oh, please. You did the same thing last year, drawing from Bright Lettin's waterholes - again, a primary source for a large community of Animals - that have since disappeared," Boq said, now sounding angry. Glinda stood quickly.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but if that is truly the last matter of the night, then we are finished here. Both Master Boq and I are exceptionally tired." The men were red faced with frustration. She passive aggressively showed them the door.

"Good work in there," Boq said tiredly. He studied Glinda for a moment. "It's been a long day. You're going to take a day of rest tomorrow?"

"I am."

Boq muttered as he passed her. "Give her my love."

"Of course." Glinda watched him as he went, then called "Attias!" Her girl peeked in. "That's the last of them, right?"

"It is, Your Wonderfulness."

"Oh, do stop all that." Attias would never stop. She had attended to the Wizard, and had gotten stuck on that. Attias was a good secretary, but her fear made Glinda spectacularly uncomfortable. The girl expected her to live up to a tyrant. "Remind the staff not to disturb my chambers today or tomorrow until the noon."

"Yes, Your-"

"And send a message to Levius about designing a dress for the Winter E.C. Ball; he has a month or so. I want it to make me seem aloof but very trustworthy." Attias scribbled dutifully as they began down one of many identical halls in the south wing of government house. It stood unceremoniously on a main street of the inner Emerald City. The palace had been stripped of its glamour and made into a school since the Wizard's leave from Wizardom. "And I need you to send your best bouquets to the houses of Shenshen, Milla and Pfannee, and have the note on them be very heartfelt. It's to be the anniversary of our graduation quite soon, you see."

"Happy anniversary, Your Loftiness."

"Yes, thank you." Glinda had reached her door. "Loftiness? Creative, but no." Attias stuttered an apology to her shoes as Glinda entered her rooms.

Once behind closed doors, she sighed heavily and immediately got to loosening her bodice. She was not the spring chicken she once had been, strutting up and down the upper echelons of the Emerald City in her heels and her corsets and her ridiculous, extravagant gowns. Her date was probably here, but they were still a room apart, so Glinda allowed herself a fart and a pick and checked her face in the mirror. She tucked aside a hair or two. Flawless.

She entered her bedroom and found Elphaba lying on her side over her bed, completely naked, except for a hat she had taken from Glinda's collection. It was a wide brimmed peach thing, with a linen belt and the - fake - tail feathers of a summer quail wafting from it. She lifted it from her head in greeting. "Your Loftiness."

"You're so theatrical," Glinda said fondly. She went to Elphaba and took the hat from her head, and bent to kiss her. "Hello darling. Drink?"

"Already had one."

Glinda poured herself a glass of shiraz. "Good for you. I've had the most boring night." Elphaba's hands touched her waist, glided down and around to hold her hips. As Glinda struck the match to light a centred candal sat on the dresser beside the drinks cabinet, Elphaba pressed her hips to Glinda's. She felt the bulge even through the layers of her dress. "Oh my. Excited, aren't you?"

Elphaba laughed lowly, her breath ghosting over Glinda's neck. "Very excited."

She picked up her wine and turned in Elphaba's hands, looking a little up at her. Elphaba's eyes were very dark. She had eyes that lit dimly, as if they absorbed light rather than reflected it.

She hadn't changed much. She was still tall and made of lean, hard stuff. There was a new scar just an inch from the base of her throat. She had lost weight perhaps – her breasts were smaller than ever, her ribs bare, her stomach too flat and her waist too narrow for her age. Her coarse black hair grew wild and trailed from navel to groin, where strapped around her hips and thighs in supple leather and brass rings was a very strange and impressive dildo.

It wasn't one of Glinda's, which were all shaped and hardened leather. This was glass, she thought, and while it certainly looked like a cock in general shape, it had rather more ripples and texture than she'd seen before. "Where'd you get this?" Glinda took it in her hand and pumped casually, smirking to see Elphaba's knees tremble. "Are you quite desperate?"

Elphaba braced herself on the table at Glinda's back, leaning closer to her. "I picked it up in Quadling country." Elphaba had this great ability to look impassive even when you were working her over. "It cost a fortune, so I hope you enjoy it." She smiled candidly, and gave her a soft kiss.

The smile seemed break the tension between them, the small resentments and the distance. Glinda felt all of her old affection rush up in her at once. She wrapped her arms around Elphaba's waist and kissed her as if making up for lost time. "I'm sorry I've been so long, Glinda," Elphaba said a little distractedly, "Only there's been so much to do. You've no idea the terror still going on beneath your nose. It is small groups, isolated groups, but the things they do! There was a Horse, an honest labour-mare strung up by her neck-"

"Elphie, please, not now," Glinda said. Elphaba looked at her sharply and opened her mouth to speak but Glinda quickly said, "I believe we were in the middle of something, and I don't want it to ruin the mood. I do read your letters, you know. But later you may tell me all in more detail, I promise."

That seemed to satisfy her, barely.

During their months apart they contacted each other through complicated, illegal channels. Neither of them ever dared to reread what they had written. They wrote them at night in their beds, when all their feeling were at their strongest. Elphaba's letters followed a format hilariously true to her personality; three pages of details about her work, two pages of fantasies, one page of all her longing and devotion and pain, written so honestly it made Glinda's chest ache.

Elphaba had kissed her way to the collar of her dress "Dear Oz, why must all your clothes be so complex?"

"Think of it like unwrapping a present, darling."

Elphaba began wrestling with her laces, but soon became frustrated with it and made Glinda turn around so she could do it properly. Glinda became aware of her little chalice almost spilling in her hand and put it down, and started unclipping her stockings.

Elphaba drew off her dress and bodice and petticoat, everything down to her bare self. She felt Elphaba's hands tracing the reddish imprints scoring her back. Elphaba kissed some spot on her shoulder blade and then the back of her neck, almost at her hairline. Glinda leaned back against her and sighed. "I did miss you."

"I missed you too," Elphaba said quietly. They just stood there for a long while, enjoying the reality of each other and their presence. Simple contact felt miraculous. Glinda supposed they ought to be ravaging each other desperately, but sex was so little of what she missed. It was okay - even essential - to let it unfold as it would any other day. Glinda turned in her arms and smiled at her.

"One of these days, we won't have to be apart so long. Just a little more work, darling."

"Yes," Elphaba said. The mention of work momentarily distracted her; she was back with the Animals, with the Quadlings, with all the people she knew deserved more. Glinda brushed her hair from her temple, held her cheek. Elphaba came back to her. "Yes, quite right," Elphaba said again.

"Or, we will work until we are both in our eighties and finally have to throw in the towel. Then we can spend the rest of our lives having all the rousting sex we want."

Elphaba grinned. "Eighty? So young? I'm getting to at least an even hundred."

They snickered and kissed smiling. "Good luck with that, Miss Dangerous Activist," Glinda muttered against her lips. Elphaba hummed and deepened the kiss. Her hands moved from holding Glinda's waist to her hips and then to her thighs. In a very attractive burst of strength she hoisted Glinda into her arms and sat her on the table.

Glinda remembered how much she liked kissing. With Elphaba it felt decadent, it felt intense, like very dark chocolate or smooth, hard liquor. Elphaba would probably hate hearing that, but Glinda couldn't help her society girl roots. For her the pleasures of Elphaba's company were best compared to the luxuries she had given up so many years ago. If they must be compared at all. They were in fact incomparable, like all of Elphaba.

Elphaba kissed down her neck, biting her carefully - always carefully, with teeth like hers. She stopped and cupped Glinda's breasts, and pressed her cheek to them, sighing happily. "I feel like I'm home."

"Welcome home," Glinda said, only half joking. Glinda was as close to a home Elphaba had now. Elphaba rubbed her nipples very briefly and quickly fell to her knee, her hands sliding up Glinda's thighs. They both liked the sight, admired the contrast of their skin.

Glinda had gotten even whiter with age, possibly from lack of sunlight, probably from bad circulation. Elphaba's skin had baked in the ruthless heat of the Vinkus and the thick humid climate of the swamps. Beneath her eyes and over her joints her skin was almost black. She thought it suited Elphie.

Elphaba dragged her mouth slowly up Glinda's inner thigh. Glinda brought her hand to Elphaba's head, raked her fingers through her hair. That is something she had missed incredibly. There were few things better than the cool, fine sensation of running her hands through Elphie's hair. Elphaba glanced up at her as she did it and smiled knowingly. Then she hitched Glinda's legs over her shoulders, holding the shallow where her thighs met her hips.

Elphaba loved being between her legs. Glinda liked being between a woman's legs too - very much so - but Elphaba was on another level. Glinda wondered if she tasted particularly good or something. "Elphie, does my quim taste very good?"

Elphaba had been just about to dive in. She considered the question, rubbing her thumb over Glinda's labia distractedly. "It tastes alright. You don't taste it an awful lot after a while down there."

"Well, what do you like about it so much?"

"I just like how it feels."

"For you?"

"Yes." She looked embarrassed, then went on, "It feels like… service." She paused. "A kind of worship."

Glinda grinned. "Oh, I like that."

"Plus, we are built so different and yet so similar, it's rather fascinating to me." She was referring, of course, to the peculiarity of her plumbing. "I'm going to carry on now," Elphaba said.

Elphaba was too eager to be teasing. She moved her tongue in the measured and firm way of a person who knew just what they were doing. She didn't draw back or go still. She knew Glinda's body before it knew itself. Within a the minute Glinda had quickly ended up with a fist in Elphaba's hair and a hand over her own mouth, struggling to preserve her dignity.

Then she got to the point where dignity didn't matter, dignity was severely overrated. This was so much better. The shameless rolling and arching of her body, the butchering of Elphaba's name in a moan. Elphaba kept at it until she had stopped shaking. She gave one last broad lick and kissed Glinda's navel, and then got back on her feet.

Her face was drenched. She wiped her mouth and chin distractedly. "My jaw hurts," She said with no genuine irritation. She was shaking, and her eyes were black and moved over Glinda like a pair of hands. She exhaled through her nose. "Do you need a rest?"

"Yes," Glinda breathed. She sat up on the table. Elphaba had her arms crossed, fidgeting and gnawing her lip distractedly. Glinda observed her through lidded eyes. "Do you remember our first time?" Glinda said.

Elphaba looked at her mildly. "How can I forget? It was my first time ever."

Glinda looked affronted. "It was mine too! I was a proper little lady."

"A proper little lady, seducing green girls whose parts were all odd."

"Only one," Glinda said. Elphaba's smirk melted into a soft smile. "But god, were we awkward. We didn't even take our clothes off."

"That's right," Elphaba mused. "If I remember correctly, it was at some ridiculous hour of the night. We had woken up because of some boys having a lark outside."

"And I felt your hand on my bum," Glinda said, grinning. Elphaba scowled and blushed.

"Yes. And then we kissed badly, I made some poor attempts to touch your breasts, and we rubbed one out on each other."

Glinda laughed. "It was nicer than that." Glinda still remembered the way the blue light from the window hit Elphaba's cheek and cast her skin aqua, and how they had pulled the covers over them as they kissed and been enveloped by all the warmth of sleep and all the closeness of the dark. She remembered the gentleness of all of it. She remembered Elphaba trembling like a leaf in her arms, and wanting more than anything to make her feel loved.

Glinda looked at Elphaba. She had grown a great deal, but was still so much the same person. Glinda held her cheek and the back of her neck and kissed her. She got lost in the feeling of Elphaba's tongue sliding against her own, the taste of herself on another person's lips.

"Alright," Glinda said. "Shall we try that thing out?"

Elphaba looked excited at the prospect. She breathed into her hands and rubbed them over the glass. "You'll want this warm." Elphaba paused. "I wonder if the cold would be arousing - you know, because it's so strange."

"I don't know, try it." Elphaba pressed it forward, and Glinda just about jumped off the cabinet. She pulled back hastily. "I'll warm it." Once she was satisfied she lifted Glinda's legs so they rested in the crook of her arms. She really was shaking - Glinda hadn't realised how pent up she was. She had always had an amazing amount of self control.

Elphaba maintained their kiss as she pressed her hips to Glinda's, dragging the length of her new toy through Glinda's lips. That always drove Glinda mad. She brought a hand to Elphaba's thigh to grind their hips together all the better. Elphaba's mouth moved down her neck, and she raked the strange points of her teeth over her throat and her collar bone. Glinda leaned back and arched, and Elphaba got the hint. She took a nipple between her fingers, and the other in her mouth. Glinda closed her eyes and laughed breathily to herself. Her breath caught at a particularly firm suck. "Bloody hell."

"Glinda, my sweet, I think you're making quite the mess." Glinda sat up and frowned at her. "You're dripping all over your nice liquor cabinet."

Glinda looked, and she was. "Only because you dally around so much," Glinda huffed. She was a little embarrassed at how it came out. It got the message across. She caught her in another kiss, and it wasn't messy or desperate. It was a hot kind of kiss that made her head spin. Elphaba looked just as dazed when she pulled back. She pulled herself together and got into position.

She started gingerly, as always. Elphaba had chosen a fairly big dildo - that really suited Glinda's taste – and wanted to start slow and shallow, to let Glinda adjust, lest she hurt her. Glinda was already wet and well adjusted, and said, "Elphie, just –" She held the side of the table and pressed her hips down to meet Elphaba's hips, groaning. Elphaba held her fast and looked shocked.

"How in Oz are you managing that?" Elphaba asked a little breathlessly.

"I do have my own toys, you know. You don't think I use them when I am occupying myself?"

Elphaba seemed to enjoy the image. "Clearly, you occupy yourself often."

"Very often."

Elphaba grinned and made the first pull and push, and Glinda closed her eyes and kind of hissed. Elphaba stopped again. "Is it alright?"

"It's very hard," Glinda managed.

"No good?"

"It's fine." She had no idea what those ridges she had seen would feel like. Elphaba drew out of her again, and they caught on her in the best way. "Dear god, that was a good choice."

"Glad you like it." Elphaba started very steady, but her pace picked up quickly. Neither of them liked their sex slow and careful. Elphaba moved fluidly, but after months apart there was an edge of desperation. The movement of their hips against the table was making a consistent banging on the wall, and sent the bottle of shiraz onto the ground – she didn't think if it shattered or not – and Elphie's case of cigarettes, and the chalice.

It felt good of course, and Elphaba looked like she was having the time of her life, but it wasn't enough to push Glinda over. She needed more control. She leaned up and pressed a hand to Elphaba's cheek. She was sticky with sweat. "Darling." Elphaba came to a stop, blinking like she'd been woken up. Her breathing was ragged to hell. "Let's go to the bed."

Elphaba frowned and panted, semi-disoriented. "Why?"

"So I can ride you," She said. Elphaba went tripping over herself to comply. She scooted back so she was against the headboard and pulled Glinda against her, closing her open mouth over whatever was there - the underside of her breast, the rise of her ribcage. Glinda straddled her and reached back to grab the slippery thing, moving it so it rubbed against Elphaba - she hummed against Glinda's stomach - and then holding it in place, lowering herself eagerly.

She exhaled and braced Elphaba's shoulders. She did not wait to get started again, and set a good pace, fast enough to thrill but not to sacrifice the depth, the delicious grind of their hips. Elphaba had a hand on her hip and the other on her sternum, keeping her upright. Elphaba really did know her too well. The angle and her straight back made the drag of those ridges all the firmer and more unrelenting. It was overwhelming.

Elphaba was near, like Glinda was. She shifted her legs and sat up, her hands gripping Glinda's waist and encouraging her to keep up the rhythm, her hips rolling up beneath Glinda's. Glinda held her face, and it was terribly intimate, exactly what they needed after so many months of desperate worry and longing. She kissed her and Elphaba's arms wrapped around her waist, rolled her on her back.

She framed her arms around Glinda's head and surged against her with her whole body, and the friction of it pushed Elphaba over the brink. She arched against Glinda, moaning raggedly into her neck. Still caught in the throes of climax, she pushed into Glinda again. "Fuck," she breathed, and that pushed Glinda over - the absolute scandal of it, and the rawness of her voice, the firm press of her hips. Glinda fisted the bed sheets and whimpered Elphaba's name in a way that she would later deny vehemently. For now she didn't care. She didn't think anything. She felt Elphaba's breath and sticky skin, and bone deep relief.

Once they had recovered, Elphaba withdrew from her very slowly, Glinda groaning at the feeling. She would be sore. Elphaba clumsily unbuckled herself and then collapsed beside her, nuzzling herself into her side. Glinda brought a lazy hand to her hair. "I think I died," Glinda admitted. Elphaba chuckled tiredly against her.

"That can't be all we've got in us."

"Oh, it was rather a lot, Elphie." Even as she said that, Glinda slipped her hand between Elphaba's legs, running her fingers through her lips, around her pearl. She trembled fiercely. Glinda smiled and kissed her cheek. "I'm glad you're back, darling."