Summary: Title pretty much says it all. Elphie shows a sign of weakness... not voluntarily of course.

Disclaimer: Don't own them... wish I would.

A/N: Okay yeah another One Shot and it isn't as angsty as it actually starts lol Enjoy! And I have cookies for everyone who leaves a review!

Sign Of Weakness

Elphaba never had been a person who needed much sleep. Ergo, when she did sleep her sweet slumber wasn't so sweet and deep after all. There were a couple of reasons for her light sleep, but the main one were her nightmares though she would never admit that she could be scared because of a stupid dream.

No one knew not even her roomie, but just because she always kept herself from screaming when she awoke to show no sign of weakness. She had learned in her childhood that no one would come anyway. No one would have ever cuddled her or spoke soothing words into her ear to calm her.

But there had always been one more thing. That scared her and that even more than her nightmares did. No, this was far worse, because this was real. Too real was the pain she felt when water – only a drop was enough – burned her emerald skin. So above all in the world she feared thunderstorms. Though actually it was only on the second place. Even far worse was the lonely feeling she always had had when she had screamed for her mother or her father, but no one would have come.

Never.

Until today she had managed pretty well to keep it a secret, because by now she was able to suppress the screams to a hushed whimper, but ,well, just until today.

Normally Glinda slept through the night even with thunder and lightning. But this time it was different. This thunderstorm really deserved it's name. The lightning enlightened the whole room for the blink of an eye and the thunder even managed to awake Glinda. Not to mention the pouring rain and the wind which scared Elphaba half to death. Glinda on the other hand seemed rather fascinated about the whole scene and silently looked out of the window not noticing that Elphaba was awake, too, but didn't enjoy this spectacle at all. Everytime she heard the thunder she whined silently and hope that the thunder was loud enough to disguise it. And everytime she saw the lightning she would flinch under the blanket which was tightly wrapped around her.

But at some point she wasn't able to hide it and whether the flinching or the whimpering caught Glinda's attention Elphaba didn't know, but the pale girl turned around to the green girl's bed with a shocked expression on her face.

'Elphie! Are you alright?' she asked and immediately left her place in front of the window and went off to her roomie's bed.

Elphaba did not answer, too shocked to be caught and too scared. Glinda sat herself down on the edge of Elphaba's bed.

'What's wrong?' she asked, but got no answer again and just recognised her friend's slight trembling body.

Glinda knew about Elphie's allergy so she counted one and one together. 'Are you afraid of thunderstorms?' Glinda wondered and without any amusement as the green recognised. Just true concern and care in her voice. So against all her principles Elphaba nodded and winced again at the sound of new thunder. 'Why did you never tell me?' the blonde asked another question. This time the answer was a half-hearted shrug. At another wave of thunder and lightning Elphie closed her eyes and felt something warm against her cold and shivering body. Then she felt warm arms wrapped around her waist and long silky curls beside her face.

The taller girl opened her brown eyes to face her room mate who now lay beside her trying to protect and shield her from the storm and everything outside.

'It's okay, Elphie. I'm here. Everything will be fine. You're safe.' The blonde began to sooth her friend, best friend, and hold her close. She kept on talking to Elphaba though she never responded. Not verbally. But physically she did. She seemed a bit calmer everytime Glinda spoke and her breathing evened.

For once Elphaba wasn't the strong one and felt safe in her friend's arms. The trembling stopped and for the first time in her life Elphaba knew she had found someone who would always be there for her no matter what the future brought and despite her fear she felt... whole.

'You know, I'm scared of spiders, Elphie... not Spiders, of course.'