Here's the chapter as I promised. Enjoy!

Elphaba stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at the picture before her. Galinda had collapsed on the floor and her body was surrounded by a puddle of blood, which was flowing freely from a large cut on her leg. Her face was pale, her mouth slightly open, and her body limp. It was then that Elphaba moved into action.

Darting to the dresser, she pulled out one of Galinda's shirts, and, knowing that the blonde would be furious at her later, tore it into strips, proceeding to wrap it around the wound on Galinda's leg. Taking her wrist in her hand, she checked her pulse, sighing in relief when she felt a steady, if not faint, throb. She pulled the rope that would call a servant to the room and impatiently waited for him to arrive.

The servant who had been assigned to Galinda's room was a childhood friend of Elphaba's, a boy who had played with her even though she was green. Of course, it was more of an obligated relationship because the Eminent Thropp had employed his mother right after his father had died from a rare, but deadly disease, but even so, he had been there with her for most of her life. She had specifically requested that he be the one who was assigned to Galinda's room, instead of one of the snobby maids who would pretend to be nice and then talk about her behind her back.

"Miss Elphaba, what are you doing here?" Chris asked as he appeared in the doorway. "Sweet Lurline, what happened? I'll go get a doctor immediately."

He rushed out of the room before Elphaba could get a single word out of her mouth. That was another thing she liked about Chris, he knew what to do before someone told him to do it. The Eminent Thropp had offered him a job as his personal secretary, but Chris had respectfully turned it down, telling him that his place was with his mother and if the job were still open after she had passed, he would consider it.

Almost no time had passed when Chris came back with a doctor on his heels. The doctor took one look at Galinda before looking questioningly at Elphaba. "Get her on the bed and hold her down," he said. "I'm going to try and sew that wound shut, and if she wakes up, I don't want her hurting herself even more."

Chris attempted to help Elphaba, but she shook her head and gently lifted Galinda off the floor, setting her on the bed and smoothing her hair back out of her face. The doctor instructed her in how to hold her down and Chris assisted; although Elphaba insisted on remaining as close to Galinda's head as possible so that if she woke up, she would be able to explain everything to her.

The doctor pulled a needle out and took the makeshift bandages off Galinda's leg, starting the process. Elphaba wasn't the queasiest person in the world, but she looked away as the doctor began to pull the needle through Galinda's skin. Galinda began to stir and Elphaba quickly placed herself in front of the doctor so the blonde wouldn't see what he was doing.

"Elphie, my leg hurts," she whimpered, and Elphaba squeezed her hand tightly. "It really hurts, make it stop, Elphie. Make it stop."

"I'm sorry, but this is going to make you better," Elphaba said, squeezing Galinda's hand a little harder. "Just stay with me, my sweet, hold out. It's going to be okay, I'm right here with you."

"It really hurts," Galinda sobbed, starting to struggle against Elphaba's grip.

"Please keep her still," the doctor said in a tight voice.

"What's he doing?" Galinda asked, her eyes wide with panic.

"Galinda, do you trust me?" Elphaba asked.

"What's he doing?" Galinda screamed, tears running down her face.

"Do you trust me?" Elphaba asked, looking into Galinda's eyes.

The blonde hesitated and nodded.

"Then trust me on this," Elphaba said. "I love you with all of my heart, and I would only do what was best for you. This is going to help you, and it might hurt now, but it's for the better."

Galinda nodded. "Okay," she whispered, tears still leaking out of the corners of her eyes. "I trust you."

I'm sorry I didn't update before and left you with that cliffhanger. As you may or may not know, I was out of town for the weekend without any access to a computer with internet. I'm sorry that this is such a short chapter, but I thought you would prefer a short chapter to no chapter at all. I will try my hardest to update tomorrow, but I can't guarantee anything. Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers, I really appreciate all thoughts, comments, and suggestions, so PLEASE REVIEW or continue to review. Thank you again.

ReallyObsessiveWriter

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