A little booksical fun. I got inspired for this after beginning work in a lab at school. In this, Dr. Dillamond is a biologist like in the book, but characterizations and timeline work more like in the musical. R and R if you like! ~bwayfan25

" Don't. Touch. Anything," Elphaba snapped at her friends.

The Galinda's pale hand stopped centimeters from a glass tube filled with a pink liquid. Fiyero pulled his hand back from the box of pipets. Boq crossed his arms quickly. Nessa's hands were folded gently in her lap. Avaric

"Doctor Dillamond gave me very special permission to show you all this. So don't touch anything!"

"But Elphaba," Fiyero started, glancing around the room. "What do you do here?

" I am his Senior Assistant. I run tests and clean dishes. Dr. Dillamond is doing great things. Look at this! He developed a test in which he can extract proteins and then develop them on a film so they can be looked at! Or this, where he can look at cells! He says that everything living is made of cells. Plants, Ozians, animals, and even Animals!"

The others watched as Elphaba moved quickly between little gadgets and pieces of equipment. None of what she said made any sense, but they liked to watch her excitement. Her long, green fingers pointed out different colored liquids in glass bottles and flasks. Her raven hair danced happily behind her as she whirled around the laboratory. Neither Fiyero, Galinda, nor Nessa could remember seeing her so happy.

"And this," Elphaba whispered, leaning in close over a glass lens. Though a gas lamp lit the lens brightly, shadows crept across Elphaba's green face. Her voice was low but excited.

"Dr. Dillamond said that this could be the key to connecting Animals and Ozians. He says that if everything has cells, then there is something that connects them all together. Yesterday, he successfully took some kind of long substance out of a batch of cells. He hopes that I can figure out a way to look at it. The lens isn't quite strong enough. But we'll figure out something. "

A grin spread across her face. She stood up straight. Her silent friends stared.

"It's really intersting, Elphie," Galinda said, breaking the silence. By then, Elphaba's smile had faded as she realized no one else was quite as excited about the lab as she was.

"Yeah. I guess," she whispered. "Well, I told Dr. Dillamond that you'd only stay for a few minutes. He'll be back from his meeting very soon, so you should probably go."

"Thanks for showing us, Elphaba," Nessa said, smiling. "I'm glad you are enjoying this so much."

The rest of the group murmured in agreement as they moved towards the door. Fiyero lingered.

"Elphaba?"

"Yes, Fiyero?" Elphaba replied. She realized they had never been alone together.

"I just wondered if you could look at the substance from the cells the same way you look at the proteins. I mean. I don't know anything about how it works. I just wondered if they could be similar."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows.

"Possibly. We hadn't really thought about that. Thank you, Fiyero. I'll ask Dr. Dillamond."

Fiyero gave her a wide smile. As he turned to leave, he stopped.

"Hey, Elphaba? Can you not mention that I said that to anyone else? I kind of have a reputation to uphold."

This time, Elphaba returned a wide smile.

"Of course, Fiyero. Now go catch up with them before they wondered where you are."

Fiyero smiled again, before taking off running out the door.

As Elphaba began gathering up chemicals to begin to test Fiyero's idea, she pondered him briefly. Maybe there was a brain in him after all. And maybe… there was something else too. Just… maybe.

PS: The procedures above are based off of real lab protocols. Running proteins and transferring them to film is called a Western blot. The "substance" form cells is deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, although you probably could figure that out. Also,the idea Fiyero gives is for a similar-ish technique to the Western blot called gel electropheresis. DNA is negatively charged and can pulled through a special gel by electrical current so you can look at the pieces. They're all pretty cool. Just in case you'd like to know!