My first Wicked fic, so don't sue me.

I wish I owned Wicked, but Gregory Maguire would kill me.

We could all dream though, right? :P

I would rate this T+ if I could for sexual content and language etc. Not quite M but not quite T either...

Consider yourself forewarned.

This takes place post-musical/post-Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (or first book in the series).

Enjoy!

-Essence

Chapter 1

Three figures cloaked in black…

A city shining with the light of fire…

A brick-clad road of blue…

One of the figures dropped her hood, revealing a beautiful woman. Her amber eyes burned fiercely into Elphaba's skin, almost as if it was made of fire itself.

But it wasn't her eyes that made Elphaba swallow her scream. Reflecting eerily off the darkness of the robe, the woman had red as ruby skin. Elphaba squeezed Glinda's hand, her breathing quickening.

"I'm scared, Elphie," the blonde whispered to her, her hushed voice shaking.

Although she never thought she would admit it; for once in her life Elphaba Thropp was afraid.

***

A strong green hand gripped the edge of the bed and a groan escaped from her lips. She was hot…and hurting. Why did it burn so much?

"Elphie?"

She turned her head back and forth, sweat glistening from the top of her brow. Her moaning was getting louder now, and she started to grit her teeth in pain. Make it stop! Anyone, for the love of Oz, make it stop!

"Elphie!"

She felt hands clasp on her shoulders and her brain whirred in its sleep drunken state as her head was tossed back and forth.

"Snap out of it!"

She suddenly felt an odd touch on her lips, then an abrupt sharp pain on her cheek. She opened her brown eyes, her breathing echoing loudly against the surrounding walls. It was still night.

It was just a dream…a dream.

"What the hell were you thinking, scaring me like that?"

Elphaba sat up on the bed, feeling a burning sensation run down the back of her neck and onto her back. She was covered in sweat. That explains the pain.

"Answer me, Elphaba Thropp!"

She felt another, sharper pain on the other cheek. "Ow!" she hissed.

A dainty hand touched the sore cheek. "I didn't know how else to react. You scared me."

Lips met hers as Elphaba drew the girl in for a kiss. "Oh, Glinda," she murmured, her voice muffled. Her hands ran though blonde hair. "That was some wake up call."

She felt her frown, suddenly recoiling away.

"What's wrong?" Elphaba asked her, her brown eyes narrowed with concern. She leaned her back against the headboard, trying to get a better look at the blonde though the dimness of the moonlight that shone through the nearby window.

Glinda Upland was wearing her favorite nightgown, the simple white one she wore only on special occasions. Elphaba wanted to hit herself if she wasn't already in pain. It was her birthday! Of course Glinda would remember, though the green girl always tried hard to forget the fact she was getting one year older.

Her lover must have slipped it on while she was still sleeping. Smiling a little, she recalled that she had crawled into bed earlier last evening, complaining of a headache. Glinda, of course, blamed it on the Grimmerie.

Elphaba's eyes quickly shot towards the stand next to the bed, relieved that the book was still there and not charred to pieces in the fireplace downstairs. She had studied it until her head ached, flipping through the countless purple-colored pages and reading silver lines of gobbly-gook that she didn't understand but could read nonetheless. And yet she still thirsted for more.

What was it she was looking at last? A spell…or was it something else? Her head throbbed as she tired to remember. Shaking her head, she refocused on Glinda's form in front of her.

She had said something, but Elphaba was too spaced out to take heed. It was only when she noticed her lover's blue eyes glaring at her she knew she was in trouble.

She decided to play the innocent one. "You said what, my love?"

"Don't you 'my love' me, Elphaba," Glinda said angrily, pointing her finger at the green woman's face.

Elphaba gulped. What has she done do deserve this? It's her birthday for Oz's sake-

"What's this?"

Pain seared up her arm as Glinda's hand gripped it. Green clashed with white as she kept it there, staring at Elphaba's eyes as the woman cringed.

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't do that-" growled Elphaba, her voice husky with pain.

Glinda removed her hand slowly, still staring into her face. She turned her hand around, palm-up. The faint moonlight reflection couldn't mask the obvious moisture.

"So it's just a little sweat," Elphaba started before Glinda shushed her with a finger to her lips.

"But you never sweat," the blonde said matter-of-factly. "It hurts you. What's going on? Bad night?"

"No night's bad with you, Glinda-"

"I meant a nightmare. Did you have a nightmare?" Her tone was dead serious.

Elphaba looked down. She didn't want to face those blazing, protective blue eyes. "Sort of," she mumbled.

"A vision, then?" She wiped her hand on her nightgown before cupping Elphaba's cheek with it and causing her to lift her head to look at her again. "Tell me, Elphie-"

"No, nothing like that. It was just a dream." Elphaba felt uncomfortable. She barely could recall it. All she could remember is seeing that woman…that dreadful red-skinned woman…

"A dream doesn't make you sweat, unless…" Glinda's pretty mouth turned into a coy smile as she kissed her lips and played with her raven-black hair absentmindedly. "Unless I had something to do with it."

Elphaba let out a chuckle. "It probably did."

But your skin isn't red, she thought to herself bitterly. What did I see and why does she—or it—make me shiver so? And sweat nonetheless? Maybe it was a vision-

Elphaba's thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt by Glinda's hands on her chest, pushing her back down on the bed. Her sweet scent drifted to her nostrils as she whispered in her lover's ear,

"Dry yourself up and I'll make that dream a reality."

Elphaba smiled. The red-skinned woman can wait. There was another, less ominous one waiting for her, her body aching with desire.

---

Elphaba sighed as she flipped a pancake unto a plate. She stifled a yawn, trying not to be too loud for Glinda was still sleeping in their room. The younger girl was a light-sleeper, as Elphaba discovered so last night.

Last night…

Elphaba's skin crawled with both fear and frustration. She couldn't stop thinking about that dream—or vision, whatever it was—even when she was making love to Glinda. She felt a little guilty, for she suspected Glinda knew she didn't give it her all as they shared their voices together last night.

She placed the plate on the small, quaint wooden table the two girls shared, next to a glass of water she had poured previously. For a moment she stopped, staring at her green hands against the brilliance of the alabaster-white plate, noticing—not for the first time—how different she must look compared to Glinda. She then looked at her distorted reflection in the glass of water, taking in her disheveled black hair, bags under her eyes from the worry and sleeplessness-

Her brown eyes closed in a sudden wave of sorrow and hard resentment. If indeed she had a vision, then that red-skinned woman is real, and alive. Could she have some sort of connection with her and her skin? Could she be facing the same problems as she is facing here in Oz? Is she even real?

"No," she said to herself aloud. "Don't think about her."

"Don't think about who?"

Elphaba froze and dropped the plate she was carrying, sending it clattering onto the table.

Glinda was leaning against the entrance of the stairwell, still in her nightgown. Her arms were crossed and her expression was tight. She looked at the pancake which landed half on the plate, half on the table.

"You dropped your pancake," she said.

Elphaba still didn't turn around to look to her. She grabbed her glass of water, walked stiffly back towards the fire, and started to pour batter onto the frying pan, holding it over the open flames. She held her glass of water and shakily drank from it, feeling it sear down her throat, even though it was perfectly safe for her to drink the liquid without pain.

The sizzling was all they heard for a few moments before Elphaba said,

"I made it for you. It's yours."

"I don't feel like eating."

That made Elphaba turn her head to look at her. She was surprised to find that her baby blue eyes were wet from crying. Her heart melted instantly. She set aside the hot frying pan and the glass of water on the nearby sidetable and took a few steps towards Glinda, her arms outstretched.

"What's wrong, Glinda?" she asked, her voice sounding truly sincere.

The blonde took a step back towards the stairs, still holding her brown gaze with tear-glazed eyes. "You, Elphaba. What's wrong with you?"

Elphaba blinked, not expecting that question, yet the little voice in her head murmured I told you so. She clenched her fists in frustration. I should tell her—but will she get worried?

Staring into those eyes she confirmed it.

—of course she will. She's Glinda.

"Tell me, Elphie, and I promise I won't get mad." Her voice was trembling. Elphaba wanted so bad to reach out and hold her, but something told her now wasn't the right time.

"What do you mean?" she asked instead.

Glinda closed her eyes and put two fingers on her temple, chuckling to herself. "You don't have to hide it anymore. Who is he-" her voice cracked, "or she?"

"Oh no, Glinda!" Elphaba couldn't take it anymore and swept the blonde in her arms, glad that she didn't protest against her grip. "It's nothing like that. Nothing like that at all." She buried her face in the mess of blonde hair as Glinda did the same with her raven-colored hair.

"Then what is it?" she bawled, her voice muffled against Elphaba's shoulder. "What's distracting you so much—even from me?"

Elphaba dared not to flinch as Glinda's tears seared through her skin. She reluctantly backed away and settled for gripping her shoulders as tightly as she could without bruising the girl. Glinda's eyes met hers, tears making them a blurry mass of blue.

"I did have a vision last night, Glinda," Elphaba confessed. "It was horrible." Her shoulders sagged, as if they had been holding an incredible weight that had just been lifted off.

Glinda wiped the tears in her eyes with a swipe from her back hand. "W-why didn't you tell me? We could have talked instead of-"

Elphaba silenced her with an abrupt, yet tender kiss. "I won't regret your love for a stupid vision, Glinda," she whispered when they parted. "You are the love of my life. I didn't want to worry you with my problems-"

"Your problems are my problems, Elphie,"

Elphaba smiled. Glinda was using her pet name again. That was good.

"-and no matter what, now that we're a couple, we have to share those problems together. Remember, Elphaba? Dreams the way we planned them?"

"If we work in tandem." Elphaba closed her eyes as she murmured those familiar words. "I know, I know, Glinda, but-"

Glinda silenced her protest with a quick peck on the lips. "No ifs, ands or buts about this, Elphie. This is very serious matter. I love you and no matter whatever you tell me I will still worry about you like a desperate housewife waiting for her husband to come home."

Elphaba's mouth turned into a crooked smile. "No pun intended?"

"Of course I intended it, Elphie." Glinda giggled, and then abruptly turned serious again. "We're in this together, through wind, through rain, through visions, through anything."

"Even desire?" Elphaba got closer to her and kissed her on the lips. "Even passion?" Softly she nipped at the base of her neck, causing the blonde to shiver involuntarily.

"I could live with some of that," Glinda half murmured, half moaned. She backed away; dragging Elphaba with her by the collar of her nightshirt as the woman lovingly gave her kisses on her neck. She leaned back against the side table and wrapped her arms around Elphaba's neck, finally capturing her lips in a tight embrace.

"I love you too," Elphaba whispered in her ear as ever so carefully she pushed her further and further down the edge of the table until Glinda was able to lift herself on top of it and wrap her legs around Elphaba's waist as their kissing tug-a-war raged on.

Glinda let out a low moan as Elphaba tickled her ear with her tongue. She laughed and answered with a nip of her own—careful so it didn't burn—on the green woman's neck. She continued further down until Elphaba gave a small groan and gripped her hair in a fit of passion.

Glinda abruptly stopped. She raised her head to look at her lover's brown eyes full of desire for her. She smiled as she saw her frown in mock disappointment.

"Why'd you stop?" moaned Elphaba, her voice thick with lust.

Glinda chuckled and twirled a strand of raven-black hair between her fingers. "I just wanted to say happy birthday, sweetie."

Elphaba smiled and kissed her. "Why don't you remind me why I was born on this day anyways?"

"To love me forever and ever and ever and ever…"

Her words were drowned out as Elphaba took her lips into hers and initiated another round of tug-of-war, with their tongues as the competitors this time. Elphaba was about to hold her down for the full count until she felt a searing pain shoot up her arm. She cried out and removed her green hand from the surface of the table. It was wet from the water that was spilled from the cup that was there earlier. Glinda must have knocked it over when she made her way on top of the table.

The blonde's eyes opened wide as she scrambled for a towel, which hung conveniently nearby from a handmade hook for these kinds of situations—cooking-wise, anyhow.

"Dry it off, dry it off," she said breathlessly as Elphaba grabbed the towel from her and started to wipe her hand quickly, hissing in pain. She tossed aside the white cloth as she reached for Glinda's lips again, but the woman shifted away from her, shaking her head.

"We can't continue like on this, Elphie," she murmured, looking down.

Elphaba looked crestfallen. "What do you mean we-"

Glinda gingerly unwrapped her legs from Elphaba's waist and swung it over her head to the other side of the table. Elphaba blinked, her head reeling from that brief flash of Glinda's bare underskirt as the woman jumped off the table. She's wearing nothing under that thing, Elphaba thought dirtily, but her thoughts were interrupted as Glinda walked away from her towards the stairs.

Elphaba took a step forward, not sure what to do.

Glinda rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "This is where you follow me seductively and I gasp and fall into your arms as you lead me to the bed." She waggled her eyebrows as Elphaba smiled, getting the point.

She tried her best to walk as seductively as she could towards the blonde. She slipped a hand behind her back as Glinda gasped—a little too realistically for this kind of acting, Elphaba guessed—and fell back into the strong arms of her lover, who held her bride-style.

"Do I get my birthday present now, Glinda the Good?" asked Elphaba huskily, somehow managing to hold her and kiss her lips at the same time.

Glinda abruptly grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled herself forwards for a heated kiss. Elphaba kept her legs steady, but she knew she would buckle if they didn't get to the bedroom soon.

"You can call me Glinda the Naughty for today," the blonde growled flirtatiously. She could feel Elphaba's heart beat against her almost bare skin as she laughed.

"I like the sound of that!" Elphaba said, licking her lips as if she was hungry. "Forget pancakes! I've got Glinda the Naughty for breakfast today!"

"Now that you got a sneak preview of your present —or breakfast if you'd rather," Glinda purred, amused by Elphaba's very suggestive comment. "You can carry her to the bed to receive it the proper way."

Elphaba didn't waste any time as she half ran half stumbled up the stairs, through the doors to their bedroom and towards the bed. Glinda slithered out of her arms and crawled towards the headboard, looking back at Elphaba, her head cocked to the side in a cutesy fashion. She batted her eyes and let a strap of her night gown fall just the tiniest bit down her white-skinned shoulder, riling Elphaba a bit more than she should have.

"Now you get to open the present," said Glinda, a bit breathless as Elphaba crawled on top of her, the green woman's long raven-black hair soon surrounding the lover's faces as they kissed passionately.

Suddenly Elphaba felt eyes staring at them. Her mind was so clouded with lust she barely noticed it, but as Glinda ran her fingers of one hand through her silky black hair and brought her green hand to her chest with the other; Elphaba felt it again.

"What?" asked Glinda, her voice muffled as she nipped and kissed Elphaba's neck, noticing her sudden hesitation.

"N-nothing." If it's some pervert at the window I swear I'll kick that bastard's-

The eyes again. Even in her anger and annoyance, Elphaba couldn't bear to turn around and look, not when her lover's this submissive to her, this-

That's when Glinda screamed.

And not out of passion.

Did that get your attention? Good.

Chapter 2 coming soon.