„Heya." Glinda rushed back into her study after night had already fallen.

The meeting with the journalist had been rather unplanned and had upset her timetable somewhat.

She had neglected to talk to Mem all day, not cherishing the thought of that particular conversation.

And now, she feared, it might be too late, the old woman had probably already left and withdrawn to her own quarters.

But there would be time tomorrow morning, Glinda knew, when she would be able to draw Mem aside and have a heart to heart with her, before springing Elphaba on everyone else.

Right now, she needed to gather her bearings, check with her roommate for dinner and when the little new member to her living arrangements would arrive, and then, maybe, try to catch Mem, still in the kitchen.

The detailed plans that she had promised the Munchkinlandfarmers a few hours prior also needed to be drawn up, and she would have to present the taxcut solution to the chamber of commerce before long as well.

Whipping through the room like a whirlwind, the blonde had not noticed at first, that a familiar green form, hunched over her desk, was blatantly absent.

Glinda's heart stopped in her chest.

Her right flew to the spot beneath her left collarbone, from where a deep coldness seemed to spread throughout her body.

"Hey, I'm right here."Elphaba gently put a hand on her shoulder, which Glinda's hand sliding upwards, quickly covered.

Closing her eyes, and biting her lip to suppress tears, the blonde leaned her cheek against green knuckles

The one formerly known as the Wicked Witch of the West wanted nothing more than to slap herself for not having been a little more considerate.

She carefully snaked her right around Glinda's waist, and turning her, pulled her in against herself.

"I'm right here, ok?" she whispered into blonde curls.

Immediately, she could hear an unsuccessfully suppressed sniffle, and only responded in circling the other woman with both arms, and holding her carefully.

"Look.." Elphaba tried to reason, after she had let Glinda cry for a few minutes.

"I'll give you a heads up before I try to run out on you again, ok?"

The blonde looked up at her.

"How much of a heads up?" she asked, her voice still small and vulnerable.

"A week?" Elphaba probed carefully.

Glinda smiled.

"What about two weeks?"she asked back.

"Two weeks it is." The green witch pulled her in again and rested her chin on top of a head of curls.

"I've never left without saying goodbye, you know." She tried to carefully reason with the blonde.

Glinda only harrumphed a little.

"But I'll be more careful to not scare you in the future,ok?"

Looking back up at her, the smaller woman, drew the back of her hand over her nose and eyes.

"Ok." She said.

Of course it was completely illogical for Elphaba not even to get up from her desk and..

"What were you up to anyways?" Glinda finally noticed, that the green girl was wearing her princely uniform again, and parts of her face were already concealed in make up.

"I was..I was going to go see..Pegs.." Elphaba looked guiltily down at her.

"You did say, that everyone knows I'm here anyways and.." Glinda laid a finger on the dark lips, stopping her short.

"Timing is of the essence." She offered in way of explanation, before she turned abruptly around, and paced over to the window.

Night made it impossible to look outside with the lamps still burning indoors.

"Do you think, Nessa will be here by tomorrow afternoon?" she asked the other woman while turning around.

"She should.." Elphaba nervously started fidgeting with her hands.

"You're worried, aren't you?" Glinda was at her side again in a matter of a few steps and took both of the green hands carefully into her own.

"No..yes..no..I have no reason to..not yet..they're still fine, time wise.." Elphaba stuttered helplessly.

"There was something I meant to ask Pegs.." she continued, trying to calm herself and redirect her attention to matters more tangible.

Glinda was playing with her hands, turning them over, and neither one of them could tear her eyes away from the play of color.

White and pink against green.

"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Glinda asked her, suddenly looking up again.

"Yes..yes..of course." Elphaba smiled back at her nervously.

"It's only about this hunch I've had..what's tomorrow?"

Her green eyes looked deeply into Glinda's very blue ones.

"Tomorrow..we'll lift the veil." The blonde replied mysteriously, her eyes sparkling.

"The veil..?" Elphaba had not noticed, how her voice had grown so soft, it was almost a whisper.

"Yes..you won't have to wear this anymore.." she drew a solitary finger over the white make up of Elphaba's face.

The green witch caught her hand, but did not release it .

"I thought white might be my color.." her eyes seemed to look right into Glinda's soul..and if the universe was green, the blonde thought, it would be trapped in these depths.

Slowly, Glinda spread her hand over Elphaba's cheek, very aware of the other woman's palm still resting atop it…and not leaving.

"Honestly, I like green better." She murmured barely on the range of hearing.

Her heart stopped in her chest for the second time in the span of only a few minutes, for the green woman closed her eyes and turned her head ever so slightly, leaning into her hand.

"You do?" she asked in a whisper.

"Hmm.." Glinda nodded slightly but forgot, that Elphaba wouldn't be able to see the movement.

Lazily, a pair of green eyelids opened, and yes..there was the universe in them, Glinda thought absentmindedly.

Great and swirling..

There was the whole world..and the skies and the sea, too.

She rose herself up on her tiptoes ever so slowly, and through her palm, which had not vacated the green cheek, felt Elphaba dip her own head in the selfsame speed to meet her.

Her head tilted by instinct, and hers brushed Elphaba's nose, she felt the other woman's breath on her lips, and thought, that she was simply going to die in but a moment's notice.

Suddenly a loud thud on the windowsill made both of them draw apart as if torn away from each other by outside forces.

"Chistery!" Elphaba called, and true enough, the winged monkey had returned, bearing a small bundle wrapped in white in his arms.

Glinda shook her head in confusion.

"I really must have gotten carried away by my little speech earlier.." she thought to herself.

But even as she watched Elphaba gratefully take the little baby containing wad of cloth and cradle it against herself with a beaming smile, a line from that selfsame speech popped back into her head.

"She is..like a..like a light."