AN:

Hey everyone!

New chapter is finally completed and it will keep you occupied for a tiny bit longer than usual, I think lol

Thanks to everyone who is reading, following and reviewing.

Plastic:

Thank you so much for reviewing. Yes, Elphaba was definitely not drunk driving ;) It was implied that she only had a couple of sips of her wine, so all is good. Elphaba also has quite a high tolerance when it comes to alcohol... I don't even know if that's canon, but HEAPS of writers agree on that somehow lol

So, and for now I just hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

Happy reading!

xxx MLE :3


Chapter Four

Glinda's alarm rang seven thirty in the morning. Still drowsy, she swiped the screen to silence the unwelcome noise before rolling over on her search for the bed's edge. Instead of the way out, she found a warm body next to her. She stiffened. She tried to recall what had happened the previous night, but her brain was a mess. Ever so slowly, she moved her head to catch a glimpse of the person next to her. After a few sleepy blinks, her eyes eventually focused on Fiyero and pure relief washed over her. Giggling hysterically, she let herself fall back into her pillows and blankets.

Fiyero propped himself up, quirking his thick, bold eyebrow.

"Funny dream?"

"No," she replied, still laughing to herself. "Rather, a funny awakening."

Smiling, Fiyero got out of bed to pull on an old t-shirt and some training pants.

"Waking up beside each other is an odd feeling, isn't it? So familiar and still so bizarre."

The giggles finally died down.

"Yes, but that's not even what I meant," she said through a mighty yawn. "When I first woke up, I had a total blank out. For a moment, I had no idea in whose bed I had ended up."

Suddenly, she found herself at the receiving end of a long, silent stare from Fiyero.

"Should I be worried?" he asked at last, already sounding concerned enough. "Is that something that happens quite frequently these days? Waking up in random people's beds and not knowing what happened?"

Glinda groaned in mild frustration.

"Not at all. That's why it was funny that I even thought that that was what might have happened" she intoned, rolling her eyes.

"Sure. I just hope that you're being careful. I know about your plan."

She assumed, he was referring to the 'plan' that entailed a husband and children – a perfect family to help her present as the straight, 'normal' girl her parents still thought she was.

"I haven't really even started on that yet," she told him, hoping to calm him down. "And besides," she added with a sassy grin, "you are the one who tries to hook me up with a green sexual omnivore."

"Hey!" He raised both of his hands. "In my defence, I never advised you to get drunk with her. That's just not playing it safe."

"I wasn't drunk!" Glinda shot back.

"You passed out on my couch just two minutes after you arrived, and I Oz damn know the scent of alcohol when I smell it."

Their argument was interrupted by Glinda's alarm that went off for a second time. This time, she cancelled it properly.

"I've had one glass of wine, no more. I was simply pooped."

"From what?" Fiyero demanded incredulously. "From not going to work?"

"Thanks to you, mister, I hardly slept a wink the night before. Do you even have the slightest idea what anxieties you put me through?"

For a moment, it almost seemed like he felt at least a little bad.

"Well, did my hard labour pay off?" he asked with a casual shrug.

Glinda sent him a brief glare that quickly softened again.

"Although I'm not the world's foremost authority on this sort of stuff, I don't even think Elphaba is interested in me that way. She might work out to be a very interesting friend, though."

"Interesting, huh? You will have to tell me everything about it."

"Yes, I know. I won't be able to avoid that conversation for long, but for now, please excuse me. I need a shower and I have to give work a ring because I'm still feeling 'quite ill.'"

She winked at him and left to find the bathroom.

Breakfast was store-brand shitty cornflakes with barely any milk. There was no reason to complain; seeing as she had dropped by completely unannounced, Glinda considered herself lucky that Fiyero had any food to share at all.

"What did you plan for lunch?" she asked on her way to the kitchen to do the dishes.

"Cornflakes," Fiyero replied offhandedly. "Without milk, I guess."

She checked his fridge and cupboards to see what else she might be able to find. Perhaps, with a pinch of creativity, she could throw together something more palatable. The outlook was bleaker than she had imagined, however.

"Wow, you weren't kidding! There is literally nothing else." She sighed, ran her fingers through her hair and placed her other hand on her hip. "Looks like I'll go on a small shopping trip for you. After all, I did promise to keep you alive."

"I love you, Darling" Fiyero grinned and opened his laptop.

Glinda walked over to him to have a look over his shoulder. Most of the time, Fiyero was working on his ace blog, but he also worked as a freelance journalist, dedicated to LGBTQA+ matters. As far as she could see, he was busy answering his overflowing ask inbox.

"Have you recently done anything that brought in some money? You know how much I admire your work, and starving artists are usually the most inspired kind, but you do have to take care of yourself first and foremost."

He looked up to her and crunched his nose.

"I have a paid job coming up this weekend, but please don't ask what it is."

She immediately plopped down next to him on the couch, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a way so there was no chance for escape.

"Now you simply have to tell. It already sounds like something very undignified."

"And I'm still waiting for your story," he evaded, typing a little faster while pretending to focus on the task before him.

Giggling and giving him one more squeeze, Glinda got up. She grabbed her handbag and retrieved her phone from his bedroom.

"Fine, fine. You shall hear all about it over lunch. As I shall hear about your mysterious weekend assignment."

She left for the supermarket, ignoring his protests.

Fiyero dropped her home after lunch to make sure that Crope and Tibbett would believe her story when she told them that she had been at his place the entire time. As Glinda had almost expected, they were terribly disappointed. Imagining her (and many of their other friends) in scandalous scenarios and dramatic love affairs easily counted as one of their favourite pastimes.


On Wednesday, after recklessly using up almost half of her five measly sick days for the year, Glinda finally decided that it was time to return to work. She was beyond nervous. Would she be believable enough if anyone asked for details regarding her brief indisposition? Did she look nearly pale enough to pass as only recently recovered? What if someone had seen her and tried to ask her trick questions, just to see her entangle herself in lies?

She pressed the buzzer next to the big glass door and, welcoming her with a tired smile, the receptionist let her in. So far, so good. Glinda smiled back as genuinely as she could manage and headed for her room.

"Good morning," she greeted her colleagues, her demeanour enthusiastic but seasoned with a hint of exhaustion.

Only two of them looked up, one waved her left hand while continuing to type with the other. Silently congratulating herself to have made it this far without getting in trouble, she sat down in her own little cubicle and pulled her laptop out of her bag.

Her boss didn't make an appearance until after his morning meetings. He knocked on his table as a matter of greeting and dropped into his big leather swivel chair. The staff in the room mumbled a distracted acknowledgment. Glinda watched him from the corners of her eyes as she continued her work. The longer it took him to mention her recent absenteeism, the more uneasy she grew.

Lunch break came and went, and he still didn't look like he was going to make a move, so Glinda took it upon herself to approach him.

"Mister Nikidik?"

He barely looked up from his computer screen, eying her over the brim of his glasses.

"Ah yes, Miss Upland. I do hope you have recovered from whatever it was that ailed you?"

"Y-yes, thank you, Sir."

It took all of Glinda's willpower not to flush bright red.

Nikidik took off his glasses and waved them about as he spoke.

"Well, just between the two of us, if you ever intend to call in sick to nurse a hangover, that's fine. But please, for Oz's sake, choose your timing more wisely."

Quite taken aback, Glinda only frowned and nodded. Had he just used this piece of advice to call her out for lying (even if his conclusion was wildly removed from the truth)?

He put the spectacles back on his nose and turned his attention back to the computer, opening a new window to show her the re-arranged schedule he had prepared.

"So, you missed two consultation appointments. Fortunately, as they were only introductory meetings, the clients were none the wiser when Dayae and Yolona filled in for you. Of course, you will have to take over their clients and the appointments are tomorrow morning and afternoon."

She took a deep breath and nodded. Two appointments in one day was a lot to prepare for.

"And of course, you will have to catch up on your reports. This is our busiest month this year so far and none of your colleagues have enough time to spare to take on any additional work."

"Of course," Glinda sighed. "I saw the memo when I checked my drawer."

"Good. I think, you have your work cut out for you. I hope you brought coffee."

He sent her off with a lopsided grin and a wink, probably thinking he was funny. Given her situation, however, Glinda found it difficult to see the humour.

At the very least, she felt more or less rested and ready to get some serious work done. The day at Fiyero's had been quite relaxing and had, to a certain degree, made up for the anxiety and queasiness she had suffered through from Saturday night till sometime Monday. Coming to think of it, she couldn't exactly remember when she had started to feel more at ease in Elphaba's presence. Even though she had still felt the tension within her, spending the evening with her new unlikely acquaintance had proved far less taxing than she would have guessed.

Glinda caught herself daydreaming, her mind wandering back and forth from one conversation with Elphaba to another. She shook herself back to the present and pinched her arm for good measure. With one swift, fluent motion, she pulled out the file with her preliminary reports and opened it. She had to buckle down now if she ever wanted to go home tonight.


By three o'clock, Glinda's enthusiasm had diminished to a pitiful trickle of feeble determination that, combined with her sense of duty, barely kept her in her seat. Granted, she had made good progress, but the 'to do' pile had hardly shrunk at all. It almost seemed like the stack of files and notes and emails was raging a war against her. By the looks of it, she was bound to lose.

Before she lost her mind, she decided to take a short trip to the lunch room, to stretch her legs and to grab a coffee. Dayae, a petite brunette, petite but still tall for her Munchkin heritage, smiled at her sympathetically and handed her a treat from a bag of mini chocolate confectionary. Glinda thanked the mighty Oz for Dayae, the only truly and unwaveringly friendly face this place had to offer.

As she returned to her cubicle, she noticed the green light of her phone flashing. Most likely, it was a shopping list from Tibbett, who once again needed some exotic ingredients from the Quadling store around the corner. Alternatively, it could be a message from Fiyero. Or her mother – it had been almost a week since they had last talked and that was already highly unusual. She briefly debated whether she had enough energy left to deal with either of these, but finally decided to check her phone anyway, if only to procrastinate going back to work.

'Hey, how's work? Thought I should share this with you. You might appreciate it.'

The picture beneath the text was a covertly shot photo of Avaric staring at the back of a dark-skinned girl's head and looking extremely irritated, while said girl seemed thoroughly absorbed in a conversation with another woman. Only now, she realised the message was from Elphaba.

'Monthly morning tea today. Avaric sat next to Sarima, but every time he tried to talk to her, all charming, bleach white grin, she staved him off and turned around to talk to someone else. He stormed off half way through and just went home after an entire day of sulking in his office.'

Glinda couldn't help but laugh out loud. She couldn't believe Avaric was capable of such immaturity; neither could she believe Elphaba was the type to record the evidence of his childish behaviour in order to gossip with her. Elphaba had been right though: she did appreciate it. She had not thought that anything could possibly make her laugh today. Still chuckling, she replied with an emoticon that was laughing tears.

Confident that the newly acquired positivity would help her through the rest of her work, she snatched up her red pen to once again read through the report she had been working on for the past four hours. Only half a paragraph later, she once again found her thoughts drifting. She wondered what it would have been like if she had been accepted at TMB. Naturally, working with Avaric was not a tempting prospect at all, but how would it have been to be around Elphaba all day? Would it have been fun? Stressful? Unnerving? Impossible?

Well, with Elphaba constantly on her mind, even working on the other end of the city seemed quite impossible. She berated herself for being so easily distracted. Who could blame her though? With no finish line in sight, she was downing in a sea of work. What she needed was an anchor, something to hold out for. She glanced at her phone again. There had been no further communications from Elphaba in the last half hour since her initial messages. This was probably all she should expect from the green woman for the rest of the day. Unless, she made the next step.

'You think you're free this Sat?'

The moment she hit /sent/, she chucked the phone away and forced herself to look at the document before her. Who knew how long it would take Elphaba to reply. She couldn't sit there, idle and unproductive, waiting for a text that might never arrive.

It didn't work. She read the same sentence ten times over and still couldn't process the words she herself had written just hours earlier. Frustrated, she cocked her head to look at her phone. Nothing yet. Still nothing. Nope. Not happe-

Her phone vibrated and beeped quietly, the green light started blinking again. Ignoring the way her heart had somehow skipped a beat, she reached for it.

'Maybe? For what?'

Well, it was a start, although it was not something Glinda dared to put too much hope into.

'Whatever. What do you usually do for fun?'

'Books are terrific fun.'

At least, the reply had come promptly. On the downside, Glinda found it hard to figure out whether Elphaba was being serious, just joking or trying to put her off. Staring at the message displayed before her, she tapped her fingers on the desk. Maybe it was actually some sort of test? How in Oz was she supposed to respond?

'Agreed,' she typed at last, if only to placate Elphaba. 'But how about something more social?'

This time, she didn't take her eyes off the screen at all. With almost bated breath, she waited to see how the other woman would react, but Elphaba apparently took her sweet time. Or perhaps she was simply busy. She was still at work, right? The thought occurred to Glinda, that she also should rather return to work. She must have wasted more than twenty precious minutes on this by now. But her conscience did not win out this time. She stayed put, eyes fixed on her phone as the minutes ticked by.

There. Tiny dots appeared at the bottom of the messenger window. Elphaba was typing her reply.

'I may have an idea.'

A wide grin appeared on Glinda's face.

'Meet me at my place. 6 p.m.'

Without even giving it a second thought, she picked up her phone and confirmed. Now the anchor was cast and it was up to her alone to fight herself through the flood of assignments before Saturday evening. Challenge accepted.


By Friday afternoon, she was right on schedule and confident that she would be able to finish all of her work before meeting Elphaba Saturday evening. All she needed to do, was to stay up a bit longer tonight and get up the next morning around the usual time she would on a normal working day. Tired, but tremendously pleased with herself, she began to tidy up her cubicle for the weekend.

She had just packed away her laptop, when her phone went off. It was the ring tone she had set up for her friends, and she quickly declined the incoming call. Grabbing her bag, she waved her colleagues goodbye and hurried out of the office.

Once outside, she checked her missed calls. Milla's name was the first on the list, which came as a little surprise. They hadn't talked much recently. Curious, she taped the contact to call her back.

"Glinda?"

"Hey Milla."

"Hi. Why did you reject the call? Was I interrupting something?"

Her voice sounded like she was suggesting something cheeky. Glinda sighed.

"There are some people on this planet who still work after five. Even on Fridays."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Well, what's up? You don't usually call just to catch up."

"Are you still at the office or are you going home now? Because I wanted to ask whether you want to come clubbing tonight."

Glinda had been going out with the party hungry group of her friends a lot less recently. Funnily enough, she had hardly realised it until this very moment. Somehow, she didn't seem to miss that side of social life much. Perhaps, this was her growing into a boring, old woman just a little earlier than the average society girl.

"Sorry, Milla, but I'm afraid I can't. I had a terribly stressful week and there is still more work for me to finish off tomorrow. But you go and have fun. I'll make it up to you next week or the one after."

There was a brief pause, followed by a disappointed wail from the other end of the line.

"But Glin, you gotta help me out."

"With what?" Glinda asked in confusion.

"You see, there's that guy I still know from uni. He's really hot and really rich. We chatted online the other day, just by chance, and he asked if I wanted to hang out with him and his friends. I said I did, but now I'm getting all worked up about it. Think about it, Glinda, I don't know any of the other people and if they are only half as swell as he is, I'll feel totally out of place."

Glinda rolled her eyes. She wanted to tell her friend that they were in their mid-twenties now, far removed from the university freshmen they had been when they had first met. Shouldn't their approach to partner search and dating have matured as well? But what did she know. Single and not even close to securing a man she could introduce to her parents as potential future husband, she might not be the best person to give advice.

"Glinda?" Milla asked, sounding borderline desperate.

Glinda exhaled audibly. Leaving her friends in the lurch simply wasn't her style. She did the math in her head: if she didn't work tonight, she would have to sacrifice her Sunday but should still be able to finish on time, which ultimately was all that mattered. She knew she would regret this, but in the end, she had no excuse that was entirely airtight.

"Alright, alright. You win. So, what club are we talking about?"


Applying makeup usually was very much like a zen exercise for Glinda – calming and invigorating. After having to rush home, hurriedly take a shower and make rash decisions about clothing, shoes and colour palette, however, she was already too stressed and exhausted to enjoy the extended treatment a proper night out required. She inspected her handiwork critically. If she had a choice, she would change the colour of her eyeshadow; the glittery pastel pink did actually not reflect her current mood the way she had thought it would. She was seriously tempted, but a glance at her phone made it clear that such a dramatic alteration, which would also have to be followed by a change of outfit, was not within her time budget. With a shrug, she grabbed her brush to run it through her curls before pinning them loosely back with a crystal encrusted hairclip.

As good as ready to go, she joined Crope and Tibbett in the living room. They were engrossed in some queer TV show, but when Tibbett noticed Glinda standing next to the stuffed chair, looking at the telly, he elbowed his boyfriend and motioned in her direction with his head.

"Oh! Wow, babe!" Crope exclaimed in surprise. "I didn't know you had plans tonight! And where in Oz are you going? This is full on. Look at those sequins!"

If she knew one thing, it was that she could always count on the boys' unsolicited compliments. It was not like she usually needed them to feel good about herself, but at the odd occasion when she did, they were invaluable.

"I'm meeting Milla and some of her friends at the Florinthwaite club," she told them as she made a slow and elegant half-turn to show off the very low cut at the back of her dress, which was held up by a single rhinestone beaded strap down the middle.

"Can I come, too?" Tibbett immediately piped up, but Crope gave him a light reprimanding smack on his upper arm.

"We never go to clubs that charge entry fees, remember?"

"True. And that place is so overpriced! Like we couldn't even afford more than two drinks. I thought you were broke, darling?"

"Well," she said, checking her bag for her I.D. and emergency makeup kit, "Milla's crush pays for the entire group. Apparently, he's got a million times more money than the three of us combined, so I don't have to feel too bad about racking up a bit of a bill."

Tibbett's eyes widened.

"Brilliant."

If she was honest, Glinda didn't know what exactly she thought about men who found it necessary, or even appropriate, to splash their money about in order to attract a female audience. Her younger self might have appreciated such opportunities a little more, but tonight, she literally had no reason to go, other than to support her friend. Her phone rang before she could say anything to that effect, and so she merely wished the others a good night and went downstairs where Milla and the taxi were waiting for her.

"I'm so glad you came," her friend beamed, squeezing her hand tightly in greeting.

As the taxi pulled up in front of the prestigious club, Milla immediately squealed, which led Glinda to conclude that her heart throb had already arrived before them.

"There he is, Glinda!" she exclaimed in an unnaturally high pitched voice, pressing her hand to her heart in excitement. "Say, isn't he gorgeous? Look! Look!"

Glinda leaned forward to catch a quick glimpse before leaving the safety of the taxi. There was only one man among a group of six or seven girls, so there was no question who Milla had been referring to. He looked handsome enough, she supposed, but could not see what made him so special - apart from alleged fortune, perhaps.

Milla quickly paid the driver and nearly jumped out of the car, while Glinda thanked the man with a smile and alighted considerably more gracefully. When she finally joined the group, an excited Milla had already introduced herself and now stretched out her hand to present Glinda.

"Guys, this is my bestest friend Glinda. We went to uni together."

Milla's dreamboat was about to offer her a kiss on the cheek, when one of his companions jumped up to her first and engulfed her in a surprisingly affectionate hug.

"Glinda! What a coincidence!" she cried enthusiastically before she took a step back to beam at her.

Finally getting a good look at the redhead, Glinda immediately recognised her and it was almost as if a car had hit her.

"Hey, um, Shenshen, right?" she said, trying to appear as delighted as her opposite.

"Where do you girls know each other from?" the guy cut in.

"Oh, she applied for a job at TMB," Shenshen explained. "She's a pretty smart cookie, but our HR manager was a real bitch and made sure Avaric didn't hire her."

Glinda did her best not to cringe. She almost felt personally offended hearing someone talk about Elphaba in such a way.

"What a pity." Prince charming smiled at her winningly and offered his hand instead of trying to kiss her, since the moment seemed to have passed. "My name's Trave, by the way."

"Let's go in!" urged Shenshen and looped her arm through Glinda's.

This was Glinda's first time at the club and she appreciated the classy interior. The music wasn't quite to her taste, but she supposed she would enjoy it just as much after a drink or two. Trave talked to one of the staff that walked by, and about two minutes later, each girl of the group was holding a large flute of champagne.

"Thanks for coming, Ladies," Trave shouted, raising his glass. "Let's have a great night, okay?"

The women cheered in unison.

"And don't forget, when you go to get a drink, simply tell them my name and they will charge it to my account."

More cheering followed.

Another member of the group attracted Shenshen's attention, and she excused herself. Now alone, Glinda looked around to locate Milla. She found her, looking a little lost as nobody seemed to particularly take notice of her.

"Hey," she said as she approached her friend.

Milla looked at her, then briefly looked to the ground and back. Crossing her arms, she released a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry," Glinda tried to mollify her. "I didn't intend to steal your thunder."

"It's…" Milla bit her lip. "It's okay. I can hardly blame you, when you barely spoke three words to them and were already swamped with adoration. That's just you. You're too amazing to ignore. I guess, I brought the wrong friend."

She smiled awkwardly. It was clearly meant as a joke, but she was too hurt to actually deliver the humour. Glinda felt very much the same.

She noticed Trave standing no more than two metres away, watching the harem he had rounded up tonight, obviously pleased with himself.

"Hey Trave," she said, reaching out to lightly touch his arm.

Looking at her, his eyes immediately lighted up and he turned to fully face her.

"Milla never properly told me how the two of you even met."

For a moment, his smile faltered. He might have expected a different kind of conversation.

"We, uh, went to university together. Or at least we went to the same stats class, if I remember correctly."

"And Law 205," Milla added, blushing slightly.

"Yes… that might be right," admitted Trave.

Glinda's attempt to set up a conversation between the two of them turned out not very fruitful. They talked for a few minutes, but it soon became apparent that he was not very invested. Poor Milla. She looked around and considered getting another drink, but remembered that she had to be fully functional the next morning, which meant, that she had to economise her alcohol consumption wisely. Taking to the dancefloor instead appeared to be a better idea, and so, she dove into the crowd to release some steam and dance off the frustration of the past week.

A couple of songs in, she bumped into Shenshen. They danced together for a bit, then the redhead pulled her aside.

"I just wanted to introduce you to my partner in crime," she grinned.

They stopped in front of a Munchkin-sized brunette. Pfannee stepped behind her and laid her hands on the other girl's shoulders.

"This is Pfannee. She also works at TMB. The poor thing had to stay behind at work and only arrived now. Pfannee, this is Glinda, the applicant I told you about."

Pfannee reacted with a long "Ah" in recognition of the name, while Glinda's mouth almost fell open in bewilderment. She wouldn't have guessed that she had left much of an impression.

Shenshen decided that a round of drinks was in order and promptly fixed herself and her friends up with colourful cocktails. The conversation soon came to life when they began discussing fashion and makeup, exchanging opinions on the latest products and favourite brands. Every once in a while, Glinda looked around to see if she could find Milla, but there was no sign of her.

Two more drinks later, Glinda decided that she should probably slow down. She certainly felt more than a little squiffy already and couldn't afford a hangover the next morning.

"It's such a shame," said Pfannee as she wrapped her short arm around Glinda's shoulders. "You would have fit in so well with us and the other girls at TMB."

Shenshen nodded in agreement and gave her friend a wobbly high five with her almost brimming glass.

"She's right, sweetie," she said to Glinda, "I'd swap you for Sarima at a heartbeat."

Glinda didn't quite know how to reply. If Elphaba approved of her, the Vinkun girl couldn't be all that bad.

"Uh… thanks… I guess," she finally responded awkwardly, making the other two giggle.

"You see? You're such a bomb and still you're so modest! That Sarima is so self-important and aloof."

"A lot like Elphaba actually," Pfannee interjected and Shenshen groaned, rolling her eyes.

"You're spoiling my weekend, Pfann! No more talk of grumpy, green HR managers, please."

Glinda flashed them a nervous smile before taking a big gulp of her drink. She'd realised from the beginning what type of women Shenshen and Pfannee were, but actually sitting with them, listening to their mocking, made her more than uncomfortable. She wanted to say something to defend her friend who had grown rather dear to her in such a remarkably short time. Yet, she couldn't find the words, didn't know where to start. All she could think of was the way Elphaba had calmly placed her black ring on the table, and that story certainly was one she was not prepared to share with either Shenshen, or Pfannee.

Despite Shenshen's plead, Pfannee went on to give her frustration some more vent.

"I just don't understand what Avaric sees in her," she said, seemingly more to herself than anyone else. Before she continued, she took another swig of her cocktail. "As ugly and bad-tempered and discolourated as she is, she still has him wrapped around her scrawny, little finger. Through him, she could run the entire place if she wanted to."

Glinda sincerely hoped it was the influence of the alcohol, but the most absurd scenario popped into her mind when she heard the other girl say such things.

"You mean she sleeps with him?" she burst out, immediately regretting it.

Pfannee and Shenshen looked at each other for a clock tick, then burst into laughter.

"Oh, sweet Oz, no!" exclaimed Shenshen, still in the midst of her fit of giggles.

"No, no, no, no," Pfannee added, catching her breath. "She would never lower herself to our level, that's for sure."

More tittering ensued.

Glinda realised it was high time she removed herself from the conversation. She finished her drink a little too fast, but just on time to pass it on to one of the passing staff. Feeling more at liberty to move, she excused herself, explaining that it was high time for her to look for Milla, whom she hadn't seen in ages. The other two nodded understandingly.

It took her a little while, but she finally located Milla in one of the partitioned booths near the restrooms. She seemed rather busy, exploring someone's mouth and chest. Interestingly, this someone was definitely not Trave.

Glinda had seen it all before. When they had been younger, she and her friends used to look out for each other, making sure nothing went out of hand. These days, however, they had come to an understanding, that any meddling was discouraged, and if one of the girls was desperate enough to have drunken sex in one of the toilet cubicles, so be it. In other words, knowing that Milla had found herself some company and was most certainly not watching from the side-lines, moping, Glinda was now free to leave this place. Thank goodness.

Before disappearing for good, Glinda sought out Trave to thank him for his generosity. He noticed her almost as soon as she had spotted him and grinned, showing off his unnaturally white teeth.

"Hey, I'm about to go home, so I just quickly wanted to say thanks."

His face fell in disappointment as he nodded slowly.

"I see. Well, I hope you had great fun."

She inwardly cringed. Of course, the only socially acceptable option was to lie.

"Yes, I had an amazing evening. First time here to be honest, and it's really unique."

Trave seemed satisfied with that. Confidently, he took a step forward to close the distance and gave her a lingering kiss, right at the corner of her mouth, her left cheek cupped gently. Caught entirely off guard, she stiffened. Wide eyes jumped from the hand caressing her to the face attached to her own.

Time seemed to tick by excruciatingly slowly. Still immobilised by astonishment, all she could do was to wait for the moment to pass eventually, and when he withdrew at last, she almost sighed in relief. She immediately retreated as far as she could without appearing outright rude, still trying to figure out what had lead up to this. She was certain that anything beyond a fleeting, casual peck on the cheek usually required a more elaborate set of cues, ideally a request for permission. Recognising her own illiteracy in that department, however, she took it upon herself to shoulder the blame and decided to simply gloss over Trave's potential transgression.

Adjusting the strap of her sparkling purse, she glanced back and forth between the man in front of her and the nearby exit.

"Well, it's time for me to go. Have a good night, and maybe say goodbye to Shenshen, Pfannee and Milla from me if you get a chance."

She turned as quickly as she could, but he caught up with her.

"There's no way I can make you stay a while longer?"

Forcing herself not to flinch at the way he was touching her bare arm, she shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm not feeling too well and need some rest."

This time, she was able to leave unhindered.

Outside the club, the temperature had cooled down a little. She wished she'd had the foresight to bring a scarf to wrap around her shoulders, but at least the soft breeze helped to clear her head from the tipsiness. Having gained some distance, she was able to breathe deeply and shake the tension. Nothing had happened. He had only kissed her and not even properly. She was overreacting. Or at least, she supposed she was. Kissing usually was nothing overly intimate, only something she personally was greatly uncomfortable with – which, in turn, was not his fault. Any other woman would surely not have made such a huge deal out of it. And after all, there was no way to be certain that he hadn't acted entirely appropriately, interpreting her unconscious prompts and using his own signals as any normal man would have. She would simply forget about it and not hold it against him if they ever met again.


Sticking to her plan like a boss, Glinda got up at six o'clock on Saturday, just like she had the day before when she had actually commuted to the office. After freshening up a little and devouring a slice of toast for breakfast, she sat down to work, confident and motivated. As it turned out, though, the final report she needed to compose was more complicated than she had anticipated. She found endless mistakes in the calculations, which considerably altered the financial outlook for the client's firm and therefore the appropriate recommendations. Her shoulders slumped in frustration, and despite her best efforts, it was slow going.

Once the initial errors were corrected, everything went smoothly. Finally in the swing of things, Glinda entirely ignored lunch time and almost forgot about her evening appointment. She checked the time purely by chance, when lazy Crope sent her a text from the other room, asking whether he had left his slippers next to the couch after watching TV. With horror, she discovered that it was already quarter to five.

She left the house fifteen minutes later and caught the next tram to the city centre. There was no question that she would be slightly late, but at this stage, she was less afraid of Elphaba's criticism. Her only regret was that she had missed her opportunity to take a little detour and see Fiyero, who was on duty as a walking advertisement for some grand opening, apparently wearing a mascot costume. She kept Elphaba informed about her whereabouts via text messages and when she finally arrived at the Thropp family residence, the green woman was already waiting for her outside the gate.

"I'm so sorry," Glinda greeted her, twenty minutes late and out of breath, because she had run parts of the home stretch.

Elphaba pointedly checked her wrist watch, cocking an eyebrow and twisting her mouth. She looked up.

"Just kidding," she said softly and offered her a playful smirk.

Glinda exhaled and laughed along hesitantly.

Elphaba stuffed a hand in her pocket to reach for her car key. The sudden beeping noise and flashing lights right next to Glinda startled the blonde.

"Let's go," invited Elphaba, holding the passenger door open for her.

Excited, Glinda sat down. She would have been absolutely fine spending the evening at Elphaba's house, enjoying a glass of wine and marvelling at the exquisite architecture while spending more time simply chatting with her friend. By the looks of it, however, Elphaba had put considerably more thought into this 'date' than was strictly required.

"Have you finished all your work then?" Elphaba asked, risking a brief glance at Glinda before returning her full attention back to the road.

A terribly undignified snort escaped Glinda's lips.

"Are you kidding me? I'm glad if I get to sleep before midnight tomorrow."

Elphaba frowned.

"That doesn't sound like a very good work-life balance," she remarked, but Glinda merely shrugged.

"It's not always like this."

This time in particular, it was entirely her own fault – and Fiyero's – but she was hardly able to share this little secret with Elphaba. Remembering that Elphaba was working in a much more senior position than her and recalling the huge stack of materials she had dragged home from work the last time, Glinda wondered what kind of work-life balance a HR manager would have.

"I do work at home most days," Elphaba admitted when asked, "but I still have plenty of time left for other things, which makes it quite bearable."

Glinda sighed.

"I envy you. Sometimes, I really feel like I don't do much else than work, eat, sleep, repeat. I pretty much gave up on even looking for a hobby, because 350 out of 365 days I feel like there is just no time at all."

"Well, I don't sleep much," Elphaba revealed, "four, five hours at the most."

Glinda immediately was concerned.

"Not a very healthy habit at all. Please promise me you stop doing this. It won't do you any good in the long run!"

Laughing, Elphaba pulled over and parked her car.

"I'm actually biologically hardwired to do it like that. Any more sleep and I'm insufferable for the entire day."

"I've never heard of such a thing," Glinda replied in amazement.

They got out of the car and walked down the main road until they came to a small park. There were stalls everywhere, music and a colourful mob of people and Animals. The sun had barely begun to set, but the hundreds of lights were already lit. Soon, a confusing, yet delicious onrush of food smells wafted their way. It suddenly hit Glinda how terribly hungry she was.

"Welcome to the Deer Park Animal Night Market," Elphaba announced with an elaborate flourish of her hands. "Open from Spring to Autumn, every Saturday, Wednesday and Friday."

"Wow," was all Glinda managed to say as she took it all in.

Now that they were actually amid the crowd, she felt self-conscious. She didn't have much experience in dealing with Animals and hardly ever ventured into those parts of the city where they outnumbered the human citizens. Until the age of twelve, she had thought that they were nothing but fairy tale characters. Her childhood home in Frottica had been practically Animal-free since the great persecution some fifty years ago. She was nervous, wondering if Animals, with their keen senses and all, could sense her involuntary uneasiness. She sure hoped Elphaba couldn't. She was willing to adjust, but it would need some time.

Luckily, if Elphaba did notice at all, she didn't say a thing.

"What do you feel like eating?" she merely asked and pulled her from booth to booth.

Although absolutely starving at this point, Glinda found it difficult to make up her mind, when all the foods were so unknown and exotic to her. An Anteater tried to talk her into buying a roast cricket skewer, while an elderly Tigress offered a free sample of vegetarian meat. Although she was no expert, she figured that some dishes were probably not at all meant for human consumption. When they passed a tent where they were selling iced holly berry juice, Elphaba didn't even look up to see if she might be interested in trying one. In the end, they settled for mixed seed flatbread, topped with a tomato-dandelion chutney and honey roast nuts for desert. It was all quite delightful, but Glinda wondered whether Elphaba would have preferred something more unusual instead.

After dinner, they continued their tour through the maze of stalls. Elphaba bought a ten-pack of guaranteed chicken (as in contrast to Chicken) eggs and some Fair Shear woollen socks – from Sheep that clipped their own fleece and received adequate compensation for their product, she explained.

The darker the evening grew, the colder it got. The sky had been overcast all day, and the developing wind only added to Glinda's discomfort. Elphaba, enthralled as she was by all those curious and wonderful things surrounding her, soon noticed her slight shivering. She dragged her back to the wool stand and bought a broad, pastel pink scarf that she immediately draped over her shoulders. Glinda's mild protest went unheeded.

"Just a few more minutes, okay?" Elphaba told her and steered her in the opposite direction, a green hand resting at the small of her back.

Glinda shook one more time the moment Elphaba placed her hand on her back, but immediately felt a pleasant warmth spread though her body.

As they reached the far end of the market, Elphaba homed in on a second-hand stall. According to the banner, the proceeds from sales were donated to an Animal rescue charity. Glinda wasn't quite sure what that was.

"Hey, Brrr!" Elphaba called as they approached and a frighteningly large Lion stepped forward. He sat down in front of Elphaba and lifted his paw for her to shake. "I brought a friend. This is Glinda. Glinda, this is Brrr."

The Lion and the blonde eyed each other carefully, each trying and failing to set their apprehension aside.

"Brrr… that's an interesting name," Glinda finally said out of loss for a better topic. "Is that a typical name among your species?"

He rolled his mighty, maned head, casting Elphaba a long, questioning look. She half nodded and half shrugged, leaving the decision of whether or not he should tell Glinda anything up to him.

After clearing his throat somewhat tentatively, he said, "BRRR503 was the code on my ear tag."

He tilted his head to the right to show off his ear, where a small, blue piece of plastic, cut to size and edges radiused, was still in evidence. Galinda gasped. Even without knowing the specifics yet, the use of tags to mark a being's body in any form suggested a less than dignified existence.

"I was given a proper name, at some point," Brrr continued, "but I decided that this one was more reflective of who I am."

A brief pause.

"You see, I was born in the less famous slums of this oh so glorious city. When she could no longer afford to feed me, my mother sold me to Animal traffickers, hoping I might end up spending my early childhood as someone's fur baby pet, I suppose. Anyway, what she probably won't want to know is that I actually wound up in an animal testing facility. The use of Animals is illegal, of course, but who could tell when the cub in question was but an infant? Thousands of Animal youngsters are secretly being submitted to unlawful procedures, hidden in plain sight, among crowds of less cognitively advanced beasts of the same name, shape and colour."

Glinda didn't live under a rock, of course. She'd heard about Animal abuse of various kinds, but to meet an actual victim in real life made it all agonisingly real. She suddenly felt ashamed, simply because she was human and therefore belonged to the same race as the perpetrators. Averting her eyes, she diverted her attention to the goods on sale.

"So, your charity -" she had to swallow the lump in her throat first "- saves young Animals from such facilities?"

"Well, it's not my charity, exactly," he replied, but still nodded. "I was freed by a group of youth volunteers eight years ago. Because the facilities themselves outwardly appear as lawful, legal investigations often take too long and sometimes fail completely. To stop pointless suffering, rogue raids are conducted, often at great risk for the liberators."

She chewed her lip thoughtfully, wondering what the charges would be for breaking into a private property, vandalising the equipment and stealing what was, without question, considered nothing but property. It was admirable how some people, especially young ones, could jeopardise their own safety and future in order to save others. Her own hart was undoubtedly in the right place, but she doubted that it would be strong enough to conjure such bravery.

Her bleary gaze drifted aimlessly, then focused on Elphaba. She looked passive, lost in her own contemplations, maybe. Glinda wasn't certain of course, but she thought, she might be able to finally put one and one together.

"Do you know the people who freed you? Do you have any contact?" she asked softly as she returned her attention to Brrr.

He anxiously shifted his weight and ran his large tongue over his dark, thin lips.

"Participants of such raids generally remain anonymous to minimise risk," he said. A little quieter, he added, "Yet some are far too distinctive to remain entirely unrecognised."

He exchanged looks with Elphaba, who seemed to try very hard not to acknowledge them, but Glinda already saw her speculations confirmed. She decided not to mention it, however – not tonight at any rate. She was confident that Elphaba now knew that she knew, and although she was sure that Elphaba would not have introduced her to Brrr if she truly minded her knowing, she seemed somewhat shy about it, for whatever reason. Glinda respected that. And she respected Elphaba. Even more so than she had a mere couple of minutes ago.

They bid their farewells soon after. Glinda didn't have much money left to buy any merchandise, but she did drop a gold coin in the donation can and attached the sticker she received in turn to her pink scarf. In the car, Elphaba turned on the heater. She must have noticed her shivering on the way back from the park.

"Thank you, Elphie," sighed Glinda, melting into her seat. "This outing was very… unique and, dare I say it, surprisingly personal."

Elphaba only looked at her via the mirror.

"Well, I suppose you're welcome," she replied evenly and started the motor.

Glinda watched houses, lamp posts and occasional trees roll by. It was nice and toasty now in the car and the darkness and quiet was a welcome change from the busy atmosphere at the market. She could feel her eyelids growing heavier and she fought against the urge to close them for just a minute or two. It was hopeless.


AN:

Ok, so that was a real monster chapter. I didn't get much sleep last few days... like 4 or 5 hours a day? Unfortunately, I'm not Elphaba, so I'll try to take a few days off before working on the next chapter. But no panic, I won't leave you hanging for too long! ;)

ALSO, in case anyone is fuzzy about the details: No, Glinda did not have sex with Fiyero that night. I think that should be clear, but before anyone thinks anything else, I wanted to make sure to point that out. They simply shared a bed so that neither has to use Fiyero's crappy couch and the reason why Fiyero still decided to sleep not fully dressed (he was wearing his boxers though, mind you) is as simple as that they are extremely close friends at this point and trust each other completely. (Partially because they are both ace, but also in general).

Ok, so that's really it now... Have a lovely week or so until next time!

xxxMLE :3