Collecting You

By gypsylemon

Author's Note: Yes, I know there's also a book, which I read, but this fic takes place at the end of the Broadway play. Even so, it adopts many aspects from the book, so in a way it's a crossover/AU.

Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me except the ideas.

Chapter 2: Watching and Waiting

Elphaba slept for two days without waking. It was as if she was in a coma, but Glinda made a wise decision to not call for a doctor. The green woman's own death was just about ready to be celebrated. Having someone see the Wicked Witch of the West alive, in the home of Glinda the Good, would start an endless and dangerous commotion. So Glinda kept her mouth shut, except to talk to Elphie, even though she knew the sleeping woman couldn't hear her.

She did her best to stay awake to be ready for Elphaba when she woke; she ordered in meals and met the delivery men at the door to keep them from entering. A charming smile, a couple of coins in exchange for bags of food, and Glinda was left alone once again to breathe a sigh of relief.

At every meal, Glinda would try to wake Elphaba from her slumber, but she seemed to be in so deep a sleep that if an earthquake had ripped the city in half, she might have slept through it. She looked worn down, weary and ill, so the blonde woman saw it best that she got all the sleep she needed.

During the day, she would sit and watch the sleeping woman and wonder what she dreamed of. She studied her body, the dull green color of tight skin, dark bags beneath closed eyelids, chapped lips. Badly healed scars that looked almost black marred her green limbs, as well as painful looking half-healed wounds. Glinda took advantage of Elphaba's slumber to clean them with a healing salve she had bought some time ago, not water, and dress them.

At long last, Glinda finally had what she wanted; a friendship just and true. Her Elphaba had come back from the dead, or so it seemed, and right to her door. She wanted nothing more then to hold that slight green body in her arms for all eternity, speak until every possible word would have been said, with none left to spare. Glinda wanted to memorize every inch of Elphaba's body so that if she closed her eyes, she would see the other woman, true to every detail.

It was around midday when Elphaba finally awoke; Glinda, who had begun to nod off in a nearby chair, was woken when a muffled cry reached her ears. She jumped, glancing at the bed to meet eyes that were wide with fear and something else, a feeling that had not yet been named. "Elphie, what is it?" The green woman was sitting up, breathing in sharp gasps, and said nothing.

She seemed to be in a state of disbelief, eyes darting about in a frenzy, as if looking for attackers hiding behind furniture. "It's ok," Glinda said softly, sitting down beside her on the bed, reaching for her hand. "You were only dreaming." She took the green hand in both of hers, to supply warmth and comfort and whatever she needed that Glinda could give.

Slowly, but surely, Elphaba relaxed and held onto Glinda's hand with a weak grip, pulling her eyes away from the wall and training them on the vision sitting beside her. Glinda, ever the stunning one, was just as stunning as ever. Sharp cheekbones, thin, delicate eyebrows, lips set in a small pout and eyes that shone like the stars. But as they shone, something lurked behind them, a look Elphaba was too exhausted to recognize.

Glinda scooted across the bed so she was touching her pale arm to Elphaba's green one; Elphaba flinched. The smaller woman wanted to take her in her arms and make both of them feel alright. It took two days of the green figure unconscious in her bed to convince Glinda that she was actually real, but why? There must have been a reason that Elphaba left that little girl, Dorothy, and the rest of Oz, and was assumed dead, but the reasons were far from superficial.

Pale, thin fingers yearned to touch, to pull the other body close and hold it against hers. They wanted to extract a reason as to why the two of them, after all these years, were finally reunited once again. Of course, she wasn't complaining, but she had always been curious. "Elphie…what happened?"

Elphaba pulled away sharply and swung her legs over the bed and turned her back to the other woman. Her head sank lower until it met her hands, and her shoulders shook with dry, silent sobs. She stood, swayed on her feet and nearly fell, had it not been for Glinda, who caught her arm. The small woman possessed more strength then what she appeared to, and half lead, half carried Elphaba, stumbling along behind her, to the kitchen. "You hungry?" She asked once Elphaba was back in a chair.

As hungry as they both were, neither of them ate all that much of the meal Glinda had ordered for them. Elphaba looked even worse than before, lost, weak and depressed, so Glinda started telling stories about the past few years. The green woman watched her closely as she talked, taking note of small details, like how her eyes shone brighter with every happy story but dulled a little when she came to a sad part.

She used her hands a lot too, gesturing to invisible people at her side when she spoke of individuals, giving Elphaba the idea that there were others in the room with them. But as the stories came closer to the present, Glinda made less and less gestures to invisible folk.

Her gold curls were cropped short to fall right above her shoulders so they bounced with each step she took, flying around when she turned her head. But as social and popular as Glinda was, she didn't have many friends; She was very lonely. It was a feeling that was new to her, since now people had lives and didn't idolize and worship as they did in their younger days - except, of course, to Lurline or the Unnamed God.

"And now, here I am." Glinda said with a grin and a sigh, letting her hands fall into her lap. She had said nothing about the stranger that had come with news of Elphaba's Father's death, not wanting to set any new worries on the suffering woman. "So, tell me about you."

"I can't." Elphaba said instantly, like a reflex. It was the first time Glinda had heard her speak since she arrived two nights ago and the weakness in her voice made the blonde wonder what had happened during the long space of time between her supposed "death" and now.

Elphie looked troubled, eyes pleading Glinda to say no more, so she shut her lips and did just that. For now. Later, she would ask again, when Elphaba was better. For now she reveled in the presence, however silent, of her long-missed friend. It was like she had come back from the dead.

"Elphie, wherever you went," Glinda got up to clear the table, "I really missed you. Wherever you were, I just want you to know that."

Green arms unwrapped themselves from an equally green, emaciated torso and took Glinda's hand as she walked by. "Me too." Elphaba whispered, and Glinda smiled.

That night, Glinda curled up in a chair once more; Elphaba was in her bed, and her eyes were fixed on the chandelier hanging overhead. "It's pretty." She said later, shutting her eyes and falling asleep almost instantly. Glinda smiled, looking back up at the chandelier she had know the green woman would love all along. In any world, however dark and gloomy, there always had to be something to love. No matter how simple; never could everything be terrible.