AN:

Hello, dear, lovely readers!

Welcome back to another episode of "Shit, what do I do about my green, pregnant roomie?!" XD

At any rate... I'm glad I got this chapter done as quickly as I did, but it's actually not a long one, so maybe not a huge surprise. I hope you're all enjoying a lovely weekend and are in a splendid mood, because this chapter is not very likely to improve your mood too much if you aren't (no, it's not super terrible lol just not overly cheerful either)

And now, please enjoy! Happy reading!

xoxo MLE

(=^_^=)

Chapter Eight

Galinda exhaled a quiet but deep breath as soon as she'd closed the door. She'd take a brief break to gather her wits, for this upcoming conversation certainly promised to be a tough one. She'd known all along that it was bound to be had at one point, but she'd never been too bothered when Elphaba had continued to put it off time and again. Now, there was no escaping it, and she hoped that she'd know the right things to say and do, so as not to affront Elphaba or inadvertently drive her away. They'd built an intimate rapport over the rather short span of time they'd spent together, and she was keenly aware of how fragile it still was. There was no way of telling how quickly Elphaba would withdraw again if Galinda made some kind of mistake.

She returned to the living room and paused, looking around and casting about for something useful to do. Her eyes fell on the beautifully made up table and the fallen chair, which she promptly picked up from the ground. Her hands lingered on the backrest, and she smiled slightly as she let them slide along the smooth quoxwood finish. Elphaba must have felt lonely and worried the past few days and yet, the first thing she'd done the moment she'd thought herself recovered enough had been to make it up to her with this breakfast. She could have simply explained away her rude behaviour—knowing what she knew now, Galinda found it so very understandable. Even earlier, she'd suspected something of that sort and forgiven Elphaba anyway. All those things considered, it made her gesture only seem more heartfelt, and Galinda felt incredibly sorry about the disappointing course this morning had taken for her roomie.

Lifting her dejected gaze, she noticed their cups, still half full with cold, stale coffee. After emptying them out, she grabbed a clean pair of huge mugs from the cabinet and began to trawl through the pantry for the right variety of tea for the occasion.

Her flavour of choice: an organic peppermint blend—revitalising, calming, and nausea relieving. And delicious, she might add. It was her favourite. She poured piping hot water into the cups and popped two bags of tea into each of them, then brought them to the table and waited, listening for any sounds coming from the bathroom at the other end of the corridor.

After a fair while, the door handle clicked, and the door opened and closed. Galinda perked up, her back rod-stiff from uneasy anticipation. Her head snapped around, though from her vantage point she could hardly see more than a flash of green darting from one room to the next. Elphaba's door closed, and Galinda let her shoulders slump. She'd honestly hoped that her friend wouldn't make this any more difficult than it needed to be. On both of them. Now it looked like she'd have to go and cajole her out of her bedroom.

She pushed herself up with a sigh, then hesitated. How much more time should she give Elphaba? Another minute or two? What if they talked about it tonight? Perhaps she owed Elphaba one more chance to bring up the topic voluntarily.

But then her thoughts were interrupted by another door click, which immediately drew her attention back to the corridor. Elphaba came into sight not long after, having changed into a fresh hoodie. A small weight lifted off Galinda's chest, and she let her lips quirk into an encouraging smile. Slowly, she lowered herself back down.

Elphaba shuffled closer, dragging her feet, a bashful look on her face. She copped an almost shy glance at Galinda before licking her lips and plopping down onto her chair. Mumbling some indiscernible words of thanks, she accepted the tea that was pushed her way and trained her eyes on the steaming mug. Her hands embraced it with a vicelike grip, without regard for the heat, and Galinda could see her knuckles turning white.

"Relax," the blonde said very softly, resisting her instinct to reach out and touch Elphaba's arm. "Take a sip. It might help."

Her arms unnaturally stiff, the taller girl did as she was told and lifted the cup up to her mouth.

"Atta girl," praised Galinda mildly and did the same.

A few more moments of quiet sipping passed until Galinda finally decided that they would have to actually start talking if they ever wanted to come to a conclusion. Moving her own mug out of the way, she repositioned her chair and folded her hands, facing Elphaba straight on.

"I know this isn't a pleasant conversation, Elphie," she began, her tone of voice sweet and comforting while her heart hammered hard in her chest and her fingers wouldn't stop wrestling with one another. She hoped Elphaba would overlook her nervousness and either keep her eyes focused on her own drink or her expertly schooled face.

"I know what I need to do," replied Elphaba after a tense pause, her gaze drifting from her mug, across the table, to Galinda's hands. "You don't have to be so worried about this. I won't cause you any further trouble. I'll just get it done and you'll have your peace again."

"What?" Galinda was stunned by her words. With one brisk motion, she retracted her hands and let them disappear under the table. "No, Elphie! That's—that's not what this is about. Not at all!" She shook her head, her serene façade crumbling and tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She looked up to hastily blink them away. "Gosh, you're such a ding-dong," she laughed despite herself and through the tears, then sniffled.

"Elphie. I only want what's best for you. There are several things we can do from hereon; ignoring what's going on with your body isn't one of them."

"Agreed," came the curt reply.

Galinda watched her friend with bated breath, biting the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from imparting any unwanted, officious advice. After a seemingly endless minute of grinding teeth and flexing jaws, Elphaba continued.

"There's only one place for me to go, really, and that's the clinic at Railway Square."

Galinda knew exactly why this was her sole option, and she didn't like it one bit. Her misgivings hardly mattered, however, as she also realised how unlikely it would be for Elphaba to accept her assistance in finding a nicer place for the procedure.

"Have you looked into it yet?" she probed, as unintrusively as she could manage.

Elphaba shook her head.

"Not properly," she admitted. "I suppose I should do so tonight."

"Tonight?" Galinda almost tsked at her, but luckily caught herself on time. "Elphie. Is it okay if we discuss this as plainly and honestly as possible?"

The other girl gave a small nod.

"How far along are you?"

"It happened five weeks ago."

"Okay," said Galinda and pensively brought up her right forefinger to tap it against her lips. A clock-tick later, she stopped and looked back at Elphaba. "But when was your last period? Because that's how they count this sort of stuff. When this happened to my friend in high school, her parents pressured her to get it done asap, because after nine weeks or so, the procedure would be a lot more complicated."

Elphaba swallowed and somewhat hoarsely told her that it had roughly been six weeks since her last menstruation had ended.

"So officially, you're at seven weeks gestation then.

"That's dumb," interrupted the green girl, "when I know for a fact that that thing could only have come into existence five weeks ago."

The corners of Galinda's lips twitched. This was so Elphaba, arguing about details like that, just because they went against her own logic—even when there were bigger problems to worry about.

"Well, usually that's not the case," she reminded her. "The only certainty doctors have in most pregnancies is the onset of a woman's cycle. There has to be a standard, right?

"But anyway, seven weeks is pretty good. There's still time." Despite that, her mouth quickly flattened and she became more solemn. "But there will be a waiting period, you know? You can't just waltz up to the clinic and demand a termination. They will require that you go home to think about it after your initial consultation."

Snorting a mirthless laugh, Elphaba crossed her arms and looked somewhere to the side.

"Like I haven't had enough time to think about it yet!"

"It's procedure, Elphie," replied Galinda calmly. "Besides… have you ever really considered other options? I know that you feel like there is no other way out, but—"

She was cut off by a sharp look. Eyes narrowed, Elphaba appeared ready to murder her right on the spot. Averting her own eyes, Galinda bit back any further remarks and bobbed her head, subdued. A close call. She needed to tread more carefully, she reminded herself.

"Fine. I respect your decision. And so will they. After the obligatory wait that is. Just make sure to calculate that into your schedule, or you might only make it harder on yourself."

Their conversation stalled. Galinda supposed they'd touched on the most important issues already, and if Elphaba was really so determined, there wasn't much else they needed to discuss. She picked up her cup and drank. Once it was empty, she pushed her chair back and stood.

"You know, I'll be right here if there's anything else that you need. I'll come with you, too. If that's what you want."

"Not really," answered Elphaba, looking anywhere but up at her.

Galinda was by no means surprised, but had still hoped otherwise and felt the uncomfortable pang of disappointment more intensely than she probably should. Pressing her lips together, she shrugged and turned away, heading in the direction of the kitchen. She'd made it half way, when Elphaba suddenly spoke up again.

"I'll look it up myself anyway, but… what did your friend do to get it fixed?"

Sensing that distance made it easier for Elphaba to talk, Galinda continued onto her path, placed her mug in the dishwasher, then leaned against the kitchen counter.

"They gave her two pills. The first she took at the clinic, the second she had to take a day or so later, at home. And then she just waited for it to happen. She was kinda lucky, I guess. Since it happened during the school holidays. None of our classmates ever suspected a thing."

"And then?"

Galinda hiked her shoulders noncommittally.

"We mostly lost touch after graduating. Last thing I heard, she was studying at some elite EC university though. Seems like her decision was for the best in the end."

Elphaba lowered her head.

"Thanks," she said and got to her feet. "For the tea, I mean. I guess I feel a bit better now."

Galinda watched her leave, her heart clenching in her chest. How desperately she wished to be able to do more for her.

Just as she thought that, her eyes widened. With horror, she remembered her afternoon arrangements. She'd have to cancel them or find a different venue for their meeting. She wouldn't allow Shenshen or Avaric to make Elphaba's bad day even worse. Quickly, she rushed back to the table where her phone still lay. She'd barely picked it up, when she heard the main door noisily fall into its lock. She whirled around and gaped at it stupidly. After all this, Elphaba was still doggedly dragging herself to the library! On one side, it was difficult to comprehend, but then again, it might simply be her natural coping mechanism, and Galinda could hardly fault her for that. She sighed and only hoped that the silly girl spent at least a few moments looking after herself. She deserved that much.

Galinda hated Mondays.

Maybe it was a mostly subjective feeling, but since the very beginning of this semester, Mondays had never seemed particularly good days for her. Miss Greyling undoubtedly was at least in part to blame. Galinda had never hated any architecture class this much. She could never wait for the lectures to end, but on this Monday in particular, she was practically bouncing in her chair, eager to jump up and make a mad dash to Doctor Dillamond's class to see Elphaba, if only from afar.

Of course she knew that Elphaba would be perfectly fine on her own. She was a big girl and oh so independent. Nevertheless, this was their first day back at school since her pregnancy symptoms had begun to set in. Her first class had taken place well before Galinda had made it out of bed, and so they hadn't even talked this morning. Galinda had no clue whether Elphaba's nausea had dissipated or worsened. Was she feeling alright? Was she unusually exhausted from the early start?

Miss Greyling's presentation ran late, and so did Galinda in the end. The doors to lecture hall were already closed when she arrived, and she gave them a stern glare before pushing them open. Had she been on time, she would have inconspicuously walked past Elphaba's row and cast a fleeting glance her way. With the class already in full swing, however, all that was left for her to do was to quietly make her way along the back row and down the aisle. Out of embarrassment, she had half a mind to stay close the door, but Pfannee had already turned around to point out the empty seat between her and Shenshen, while the latter removed her bag from the chair.

She did peer in Elphaba's direction as she descended the stairs, but only saw her back. The girl in question sat hunched over her notepad, scribbling away and was definitely not going to look over her shoulder. Though frustrating in this particular moment, it was entirely normal behaviour for her, and Galinda decided to take this as a good sign.

When the lecture eventually drew to a close, Galinda pulled out her phone. Keeping it under her table and only carefully peeking as she wrote, she typed out a text for Elphaba.

'Meet me in the bathroom after.'

She simply wasn't going to stay at uni for another five hours, only to find out later that Elphaba had gone off to work and wouldn't be back until sometime close to midnight again. All she needed were a few words, so she could go about the rest of her day free of worries.

As per the messenger's indication, her roomie had read the massage, but annoyingly didn't deign to reply. Galinda was determined to go and check anyway and quickly made the necessary excuses to her friends, promising to meet up with them at the Uni Square later.

There was no sign of Elphaba when she entered the bathroom, only a small gaggle of girls who'd congregated there to giggle over some juicy gossip. Interrupted by Galinda's unexpected appearance, they looked at each other and fled the scene. Galinda's eyes followed them on their way out, just in case. Once she was positive that they'd left, she began to touch up on her make-up to bridge the time.

For a good five minutes, the only sounds in the entire room were the clicks and clacks of her different products—powder, blush, lip balm—as she opened and closed each container, followed by a resigned sigh as she realised that Elphaba was probably not going to come.

But just as she was about to stow it all away, the flushing of the furthest toilet on the end of the long room made her jump. Looking up into the mirror, she saw the stall open and a tall, green figure exiting. Her lips quirked as she tilted her head.

"Are you here owing to my invitation or simply because nature called?" she asked, a light laughter in her voice. As Elphaba stepped closer, they locked eyes via the reflection in the mirror.

"What is it to you? I'm here now."

She walked up to the line of basins, but apparently only for the sake of their conversation. Instead of washing her hands, she pulled a small bottle of hand sanitiser out of her pocket. Galinda found that curious, but chose not to comment. She got it; everything in public bathrooms was kind of gross, not only the toilets themselves. Though she hadn't exactly pegged Elphaba for a germaphobe.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" queried Elphaba nonchalantly.

Galinda smiled, a hint of a blush appearing on her cheeks. The secret meet-up, the question itself—it suddenly all seemed a little over dramatic to her. Self-conscious, she tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

"Don't laugh, but I was just wondering how you're coping."

Elphaba's brows shot all the way to her hairline.

"Really?" She gave a soft cackle. "Well, I read a book on Unionist sermons earlier. Made me puke all over the desk."

Galinda darted a confused but concerned look at her and Elphaba felt obliged to reassure her.

"No worries, I'm fine. Thanks for asking? I guess?"

"So… no nausea? No other symptoms?" probed Galinda gingerly.

"I've been avoiding big meals and took to nibbling on nuts and dry fruits all day," supplied Elphaba, pulling out a freezer bag with her little treats.

Galinda eyed it sceptically and made a face.

"But you're eating enough, right?" she asked, eliciting a weird grunt from the other girl.

"Definitely not eating for two, if that's what you're wondering. But it will keep me afloat for now."

This conversation was starting to become irritating, and Galinda forcefully zipped up her make-up bag and jammed it into her tote.

"Fine," she huffed, "if you really want to be like this… Well, I guess I'm glad you're feeling okay. You may go home now or to work or something. You are going to work today, aren't you?" she said with an undertone of dismay in her voice.

"In about an hour," confirmed Elphaba, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her black jeans.

Galinda nodded bleakly.

"I'll pick you up later. When do you finish?"

"Not at midnight. I'll manage walking home on my own."

"You're gonna tell me when to pick you up, or I'll park in front of the ozdamn staff door and wait for you there as soon as school's out this evening," Galinda told her sternly.

Elphaba scoffed, but grinned crookedly and, eventually, relented.

When she adjusted the strap of her satchel and turned to leave, Galinda called out to her again. She really wanted to ask her whether she'd called up that clinic yet, but the moment Elphaba glanced back at her over her shoulder, she couldn't summon the words.

"It's nothing, actually, just… take care, okay?"

She received an amused look and a subtle flutter of long, green fingers in reply before Elphaba disappeared.

Galinda was lucky. It was the first time in quite a while that she was setting up the bio lab all on her own, but there wasn't too much to do in the end. Initially, Elphaba had planned on going in by herself, but Galinda had refused to be left behind—which was just as well, as a bout of nausea had ultimately prevented her from leaving the house on time. So the blonde had gone ahead without her, expecting Elphaba to catch up with her sooner or later along the way. Strangely, she hadn't, but Galinda made it a point not to think too much of it. Still, her eventual arrival—even though she was much too late to help at all—brought much more relief than Galinda possibly could have guessed.

"Why did you come at all?" she wondered out loud, intent on not showing how glad she rally was to see Elphaba. "You could have taken a sick day, or just showed up to your proper stream session. Did you actually think that your presence here would have any effect, five minutes before class?"

"I just popped into Doctor Dillamond's office prior to coming in here, enquiring whether I could switch streams," explained Elphaba. "I mean, I'm already taking up space in the lab when I'm just sitting in my corner there, so it makes little difference."

"Oh? So he said yes?"

"Only when we're not using the microscopes. I overlooked the fact that we only have thirty of them."

"Ah, yeah, that's true," said Galinda, pursing her lips. "Well, good for you. No microscopes today at least, which means that you're going back home after this."

Elphaba stepped closer and examined one of the plastic wrapped experiment kits on the desks.

"What's this? 'Bacterial CRISPR.' Genetic engineering?"

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" laughed Galinda. "And so easy for me to prepare. Just had to plop one of those down on each desk, together with a few petri plates and stuff."

"Contains ," read Elphaba and grinned. "Make sure to wear your gloves, blondie, or you might spend the rest of the day on the loo."

"What, for real? That—that's not going to cause you any trouble, Elphie, will it?" Alarmed, Galinda picked up one of the packages and scanned the label. "It says 'non-pathogenic.' What does that mean?"

"That it's unlikely to do any harm to healthy adults, I reckon."

"Okay. But what about pregnant people?" asked Galinda, biting her lower lip. "Doesn't that make you immune compromised or something?"

Exhaling sharply, Elphaba tossed the kit she was holding onto the table.

"Stop it already, will you?" she growled and momentarily vanished into the storage room to retrieve an extra kit, as well as the other supplies to put them on her own desk in the very back of the room. "I'm not an invalid, you know? I'm neither heavily pregnant, nor particularly anxious about protecting this wee thing I happen to temporarily carry around. And obviously, I'll be wearing all the PPE and apply common sense like everyone else. Nothing is going to happen. Besides. There's no warning labels or anything. If it were dangerous, they would make that abundantly clear. No none enjoys law suits."

Again, Galinda felt compelled to ask her whether she'd made that appointment yet. Again, she couldn't bring herself to actually say anything at all. Maybe because it wasn't her place, or maybe because she clandestinely hoped that she rather hadn't, even though the mere thought felt like some sort of betrayal.

The class started out with a surprisingly curt introduction by Doctor Dillamond. For time reasons, he had them prepare their agar growth plates first before explaining the remainder of the experiment. Once all of the glass dishes were placed into the lab fridge to cool down, he gave further instructions and warnings. To Galinda's relief, asking his female students about possible pregnancies wasn't one of them.

Of course, Elphaba was as careful and diligent as always. Galinda hadn't expected any less of her, yet being able to confirm it with her very own eyes still calmed and reassured her. Most of the experiment proceeded without a hitch, until some stupid boy in the front row heedlessly dropped his tube of E. coli bacteria. The girls next to and behind him gasped and squealed, causing everyone else to look up and murmur.

"Settle down, students, settle down!" she could hear their professor shout over the general noise. "Remain in your seats, please." Slightly worried, Galinda cast a look towards Elphaba who seemed hardly fazed at all and simply continued with her own work.

The boy was instructed to clean up his mess, using the paper towels and bleach solution that Galinda had been asked to prepare before class. He did so generously, and within seconds, the smell of chlorine filled the entire lab, causing Galinda to wrinkle her nose in disgust. Maybe he needn't have used quite so much. She glanced over to Elphaba, who'd already completed today's stage of the experiment and was filling in the protocol sheet.

Except that she wasn't. When Galinda looked closely, she could see that her pen had stilled, and that she was gripping it tightly while holding the back of her left hand to her mouth.

"Shit," she muttered to herself and pulled off one of her gloves so she could reach into her bag.

She located a bag of ginger candy and fished one small bonbon out of the package, then rose to her feet. Several eyes were immediately upon her, and she could hardly prevent herself from cursing under her breath. Focusing on the boy in front of the class, she sashayed in his general direction, though not without walking past Elphaba's desk, discretely depositing the hopefully helpful sweet in her pencil case.

"Hey," she said, and offered the young man a pretty smile. "Mind if I help you with that?"

Oz, it was almost hilarious how flustered he was. Without further ado, she walked over to the sink and grabbed a large towel and soaked it with water. Returning to the site of the accident, she proceeded to wipe the floor, hoping to wash off some of the odorous cleaning agent.

She wasn't sure how successful her attempt really was, but the lesson ended before they were finished, and Elphaba escaped without divesting herself of her stomach content all over her table and materials. Pfannee and Shenshen caught Galinda on her way out of the classroom, snickering and whispering among each other.

"Oh Galinda, that was so sweet of you," said the Munchkin and tittered.

"Yes!" chimed in the taller girl. "Did you see that boy's face? He was in heaven just gaping at you as you ever so gracefully stooped down to help him out. Really, Galinda, you are so good!"

"No, I'm not," Galinda waved off with an uncertain smile on her lips. It widened when she looked away from her friends and straight ahead, catching a glimpse of Elphaba coincidentally turning around and meeting her gaze, just before descending down the stairs.

Pfannee giggled some more and called the lift.

"Yes, you are!" they both agreed and prodded and tickled Galinda teasingly.

It was only Thursday afternoon, but Galinda felt like it had been a rather long week already. Opening the door to her little town house, she called Elphaba's name. Her roomie had been working a lot the past few days; surely she had to take at least some time off? If not for the sake of relaxation, then so that she could keep up with her assignments and readings, right? Much to her exasperation, there was no reply.

"Freaking hell," she muttered between her teeth and kicked off her shoes. "This girl needs to be taught some basic self-care measures. I can't waste all of my own energy worrying about and mothering her."

Prompted by her own thoughts, she decided to practice a bit of self-care herself. A nice, hot tea and some delicious leftovers from the previous night made the start, followed by a few minutes on the couch, listening to music and appreciating pictures of pretty buildings from various areas and eras across Oz and history.

Once she felt a notch happier and calmer, she pulled out her phone to text Elphaba.

'Hey there, Miss Workaholic! Had a good day so far? Let me know when you finish today, okay? No need to cook. Just let me know what kind of takeout you'd fancy for dinner.'

'Oh, and I need your help with the bio reading for tomorrow. I didn't even understand half of it. TIA. 3'

She realised that Elphaba wouldn't be able to answer until her next break, which could be ages from now if she was really unlucky, and so she made a plan to simply order her favourite pasta if she didn't hear back from her within the next two hours.

Her phone buzzed and chimed much earlier than that, and Galinda eagerly picked it up to find out what her friend had to say. Her expression sobered quickly.

'At the clinic. Appointment was for five forty, but I'm still waiting. Might get sorta late. Order whatever you like, or I can toss something together when I get home.'

Sucking in a sharp breath, Galinda tried not to flip. This was okay. Elphaba was doing what she had to do. There was no need for her to get involved, unless the one, single person truly in charge of this situation was asking her to. Her stomach tingled and twisted regardless, and she suddenly doubted she would even be hungry later.

'Why didn't you tell me earlier?' she wrote, against her better judgement.

Staring at the message for a moment, she almost regretted it and felt the need to mitigate her words.

'I could have dropped you off at least. I can still pick you up if you like. Railway Square is a fair distance by bus.'

'No worries. Not a big deal. I brought a book.'

She decided to let it go. She could take a hint, even if she didn't like it.

Hoping to distract herself, she opened up her laptop and logged into her student account. They were going to start using a different software for architectural design next week, and the TA had sent them a list of links for decent tutorial videos. She was determined to watch them all at least twice before class.

The diversion was working better than she'd expected. Fascinated by the features the program offered, Galinda hardly noticed the time as it flew by. She almost jumped, when her phone heralded another text from Elphaba.

'Blood test done. And another urine test. Surprise, surprise. Turns out I'm pregnant.'

She gave a soft chuckle despite herself. Elphaba's cynical tone of voice was just as palpable through her written words as if she'd said them out loud. However, as the effect of amusement gradually wore off, a strange blend of emotions swelled in her chest, and she couldn't help but wonder if Elphaba felt the same way.

On the one hand, they'd known it all along, yet on the other, clinical tests seemed to give the entire circumstance more gravity. It also made her feel strangely sad and disheartened, though she had no idea why.

'Done soon then?'

'You kidding? Haven't even had my ultrasound yet, let alone the consultation. This is public health, Princess.'

And so she sat and waited—if not in the same room or even building together with Elphaba, then at least with her in thoughts. She was still watching her videos and occasional one technique or another piqued her interest for a minute or so, but she was decidedly more preoccupied now. She thought about how unfair it was that this entire process was made so much more gruelling for women of limited means who could not afford the services of a possibly cosier, more efficient private clinic. The endless waiting and everything; Galinda knew she wouldn't be able to bear it if their fortunes had been reversed.

She wondered what kind of mood she should expect Elphaba to be in when she returned at last. She wouldn't make her cook tonight, that much was for sure. Pausing the video, she picked up her phone and dialled the number of their nearest Munchkin style restaurant and made an order to be delivered at eight. Hopefully, poor Elphaba would be back by then.

Just as she hung up, a new text popped up. It must have arrived while she'd been speaking to the restaurant staff. Opening the messenger app, she was greeted by something she hadn't quite expected.

"Sweet Lurline!" she exclaimed, her hand flying up to her heart which seemed to have missed a beat.

Nothing could have prepared her for the black and white ultrasound picture that Elphaba had sent her. Goodness, she hadn't even anticipated her doing as much as glancing at it. Why would she do this to herself? Evidently, the girl's thought process was well and truly beyond her.

It was strange though; once the initial shock had passed, she couldn't stop herself from poring over every inch of the picture. She even swiped to enlarge the most prominent part of it, catching herself gawking in pure awe. For a grey blob, it looked inexplicably human. Or was that only her imagination?

She waited for any comments from Elphaba, but they never came. Even an hour later, she hadn't sent any further texts. Was she upset after all? Did she regret looking at the likeness of the life growing inside of her? Why wasn't she even letting her know that she was almost finished and would be coming home soon? She simply had to be! When did this place close? Midnight? Definitely not!

Galinda considered getting into her car and driving up to Railroad Square, but even in her agitated state, she realised what a wild goose chase that would be. She contemplated sending Elphaba another message, but couldn't summon the appropriate words. Oz, this was so difficult!

The doorbell rang. The food had arrived. Thanking the delivery driver meekly, she accepted the white plastic bag and tipped him. She watched him trudge back to his car, then stared into the distance a while longer after he'd driven off. Her arms and bare feet were getting cold quickly, yet she was rewarded eventually, when she suddenly spotted Elphaba's green face poke around a corner. As she drew closer with her typical, long strides, she looked neither sad, nor pensive. She looked positively livid, and a rush of apprehension gripped Galinda. Oh boy. Tonight's dinner was almost certainly bound to get scrapped.