Chapter 18

Elphaba was still in bed when there came a knock on her front door. Elphaba raised her head from the pillow and stared towards the door warily. She never expected visitors at the best of times, but she definishly wasn't expecting visitors at eight-thirty in the morning on a Wednesday morning.

The knock came again, more impatiently this time, and Elphaba dragged herself out of bed and headed for the door, pulling on her robe as she did so. Tentatively, she peered through the peephole and was greeted with a distorted view of a blonde head of curls.

With a gasp, Elphaba fumbled with the locks and threw open the front door, staring bewilderedly.

"Glin?"

"Elphie!" Galinda squealed, and suddenly Elphaba was being squeezed to death in a tight hug by her best friend.

"What are you doing here?" Elphaba demanded breathlessly, for some strange reason feeling the urge to cry.

Galinda broke the hug, pulling back and frowning at Elphaba. "Honestly, Elphie? After everything that you told us, how in Oz's name were we not going to come?"

"We talked it over on Monday night after we spoke to you," Galinda said, making her way inside past a dazed Elphaba. "And so we booked a hotel and drove up yesterday. Don't worry, we're only staying two days- Boq has to be back at work on Monday, so we'll leave on Friday. But I just had to see you."

Elphaba was just lost for words.

"Where's Boq?" she managed to say, closing the door behind Galinda.

"Oh, he's taking advantage of being away from the farm to have a lie-in," Galinda replied. "Here- Happy Lurlinemas!"

"Thank you," Elphaba said, accepting the gift Galinda thrust towards her. "I have yours and Boq's around here somewhere… I was going to post it, but-"

"This is way more fun," Galinda said, clapping her hands together. "I didn't expect you to still be in bed at this hour. You're not sick, are you?"

Elphaba shook her head, tightening her robe around her and moving over to slump tiredly into her armchair, beginning to open the gift as Galinda placed her things on the couch and took a seat.

"I'm not sick. And I was awake, just… not up. I didn't sleep well last night."

She hadn't slept well the past few nights, really. Even for her.

Elphaba opened the box and pulled out a snow globe, that depicted Munchkinland inside.

"Oh, wow," she said softly, admiring it as Galinda looked on anxiously.

"Is it okay?" she asked. "I wasn't sure, but I wanted you to have a little bit of home. You know?"

Elphaba tilted the snow globe, watching the glitter within fall and settle on the porcelain figurines. She recognised the place, of course she did- Stonepar End was the historic home of Elphaba's favourite classical Ozian author, Fiorella Kittson.

"It's a reminder that not everything about Munchkinland is horrendible."

Elphaba smiled. "I have you and Boq in Munchkinland, so I know that. But I love this. Thank you. Yours is the envelope on the table next to the door."

Galinda immediately jumped up to get it, and Elphaba stifled a smile as Galinda opened it without hesitation or even considering waiting for Boq. It wasn't anything fancy, just a gift certificate to their favourite restaurant in Munchkinland, but Galinda seemed delighted by it all the same.

"So, what did you want to do while you're here?" Elphaba asked her, absent-mindedly turning the snow globe in her hands.

Galinda raised an eyebrow at her. "Why don't you get dressed? I'll order in breakfast for us, and you can tell me everything you left out on Monday night."

Elphaba couldn't help but smile. Of course Galinda had known she wasn't getting the whole story- there was a reason that she was her best friend, after all.

"Okay," she agreed, not even arguing. There was no point.

So, she showered, dressed and picked at the breakfast Galinda had ordered as she recounted everything from the past two weeks. Galinda listened intently to it all, much more solemnly than she had on the phone.

"How was it? Pretending to be dating Fiyero?"

Just as Galinda knew Elphaba so well, she knew Galinda. Thus, Elphaba just rolled her eyes fondly.

"Yeah, there wasn't as many make-out sessions as I'm sure you're imagining, Glin."

Galinda's eyes lit up. "But there were make-out sessions?"

"Galinda," Elphaba laughed. "Oh my Oz. You're hopeless. There were no make-out sessions. There was one kiss, and only because of the stupid mistletoe."

"Mistletoe is not stupid!" Galinda protested. "And it's bad luck not to kiss under the mistletoe. How was the kiss?"

Elphaba rolled her eyes again. "It was a kiss. I didn't stop to rate it on a scale of one to ten."

"You should have."

"It was a peck on the lips. It didn't mean anything. Come on, let's get out of here. I'm sure you'd like to see more of the city than my apartment. And I'd like to see Boq."

Galinda reached for her bag to dig for her phone. "I'll text him. But don't think we're done with this," she warned Elphaba.

Elphaba just nodded. This was how it always was. Elphaba talked until she just couldn't anymore, and changed the subject. Galinda would let it drop, until Elphaba was ready to let a little more out. Whereas Galinda preferred to let everything out at once. They met up with Boq in Rowan, in the city's north-east, because Galinda said that she couldn't not go shopping on Ozma Arcade while she was here. Boq met them outside Otsby's department store, admiring the already Valentine's Day themed decorated windows with cups from Javaland in hand.

"Mocha with extra chocolate and vanilla, right?" he greeted her.

Elphaba took the coffee from him and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Boq. It's good to see you."

"You too," Boq smiled, then kissed Galinda sweetly, handing her a coffee. "Where to first, my love?"

Galinda beamed at him. "Otsby's."

Fortunately, the shoe department in Otsby's was right next to the book department, so Elphaba wandered over while Galinda looked at slippers for her mother.

"Landscapes of the Vinkus?" Boq asked, suddenly appearing beside her as she flicked through a book. "You liked it there, huh?"

"I did," Elphaba replied. "It's beautiful."

She paused on a photo of Mount Attleline, which she could only assume had been taken in the spring, by the amount of wildflowers in the image.

"Fiyero took me hiking here," she told Boq.

"Since when do you hike?"

Elphaba snorted. "What, you're not familiar with the many hiking trails around Munchkin City?"

Boq rolled his eyes and Elphaba grinned.

"I haven't made a habit of hiking, no," she said. "But it wasn't bad. I'd prefer an afternoon hike though," she said, thinking back to the early wake-up call that morning. "Getting up at five in the morning is not my idea of a good time."

"Don't marry a farmer," Boq advised her.

"Noted."

Elphaba bought the book.

"When do you get that gorgeous cabinet Fiyero got you for Lurlinemas?" Galinda asked her, leading the way out of Otsby's after they'd paid for their purchases.

"We have to arrange that," Elphaba replied. "But Fiyero's work schedule is a bit all over the place at the moment with people on holidays. Besides, there's no rush. I need to move things around to make room for it anyway."

"Oh we can help with that!" Galinda offered brightly.

"She means that I can help you with that," Boq said and Elphaba grinned.

"Yeah, I know."

They ate dinner at Elphaba's that night, and afterwards Boq helped Elphaba move things around to make room for the card catalogue cabinet, while Galinda leafed through the Vinkun landscape book and admired the images.

"It really is beautiful. I still can't believe you went hiking. How is walking up a mountain fun?"

Elphaba laughed, sorting through a pile of books she was moving. "It's more fun than running up a mountain."

"Well, that's true," Galinda agreed. "These wildflowers are beautiful. I'm guessing they weren't there when you were."

"Uh, no," Elphaba confirmed, sitting next to her and taking another look at the picture.

She couldn't be a hundred percent sure, but she thought the image might have even been taken from the same spot she and Fiyero had sat.

Galinda peered between the image and Elphaba. "What is it, Elphie?"

"What's what?"

"You have this… look on your face," Galinda said.

Elphaba shook her head. "It's nothing. Just… Fiyero and I had a really nice chat on the hike. And I miss him," she admitted.

Galinda frowned, and then grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the couch.

"Dearest, keep moving the books," she called back to Boq. "We just need a minute!"

"Boq can't move the books," Elphaba protested. "He doesn't know my system."

"Sweetie, no one does but you," Galinda reassured her, leading her into the bedroom and shutting the door behind them. "Okay, I love you and I know how your brain works. But Elphie, we are on a time crunch here, and you know I hate doing these chats over the phone. So, what exactly did you and Fiyero chat about?"

Elphaba sank onto the end of her bed with a sigh as Galinda looked to her expectantly.

"A lot," she replied. "His ex, mostly."

Galinda nodded. "Sure."

Elphaba shook her head, rubbing a hand over her forehead tiredly. "It's kind of crazy, but I thought we got a lot closer while we were in the Vinkus. There was this moment on New Year's Eve when I thought that maybe there was something… and then by the time we left, he was barely talking to me and I haven't spoken to him since. And I know it's only been a few days, but I miss him."

Elphaba felt a little silly saying the words aloud, but Galinda's face softened.

"Okay. Have you called him? Texted him? Messaged him on Timely? Has there been any form of communication since you got back on Monday?"

"No," Elphaba admitted. "I've wanted to, but I don't know what to say. I don't have any reason to text him."

Galinda rolled her eyes. "Elphie, you don't need a reason. Do you need a reason to text me?"

"No, but you're my best friend."

Galinda frowned. "Elphie. Just text him. Or call him. If you really feel like you need a reason, ask about organising a time for the card catalogue. Ask him how in Oz's name he's going to get it up your ridiculous staircase."

Elphaba laughed. "He says it'll just pivot."

Galinda wrinkled her nose. "I don't do manual labour, but that doesn't seem like it's going to work."

"Oh, it'll be a disaster," Elphaba agreed.

Logically, she knew Galinda had a point. But every time she went to text Fiyero, she just wasn't sure what to say. Everything sounded incredibly stupid once it was written out, and then ended up deleting it without sending anything.

"You said on the phone that it was easy, pretending it to be with Fiyero," Galinda reminded her gently. "And just now you said that you thought there was something on New Year's Eve. Did you want there to be something?"

Elphaba sighed. "Glin-"

"Don't 'Glin' me, Elphaba. Answer the question."

Elphaba hesitated, averting Galinda's eyes. "I think," she said carefully. "That if dating Fiyero was something that happened, it would be easy to cross that line."

That was essentially a 'yes' in Elphaba-speak.

Galinda beamed at Elphaba, reaching over and pulling her into a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

Elphaba chuckled. "Thank you… why exactly?"

Galinda pulled back, still smiling like Elphaba was a toddler who'd just taken her first steps under her mother's watchful eyes. "The last like, two years or whatever have been pretty awful for you, and I knew- I just knew- that something thrillifying was going to come out of it. And I didn't want to say anything, but I so hoped that it was going to be you and Fiyero!"

Elphaba blinked. "Yes, you were very discreet with all your hints and questions about Fiyero being single," she deadpanned, but there was something heart-warming about it all the same.

Then she shrugged. "It's not that simple, Glin. Fiyero and I are friends- he's my best friend after you, and I couldn't stand it if that was ruined. And also, Fiyero doesn't date anyone longer than a month. I've seen it."

Time and time again.

"You've seen it, but he's never dated you before," Galinda said wisely. "Trust me, Elphie. It's just like that movie, where-"

Elphaba cut her off with a groan, getting up from the bed and returning to the living room and her books.

Galinda and Boq left to return to their hotel around ten o'clock and Elphaba locked up behind them and readied herself for bed, leaving the few dishes in the sink to deal with in the morning. She climbed into bed, rolling onto her side to face the empty side. It was ridiculous, considering that no one had ever slept in this bed but her, but since coming home the bed seemed oddly empty. When Elphaba had told Fiyero about the ten percent of time where she was lonely, she hadn't expected this to be a part of it.

Grimacing, she rolled onto her back and staring up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of traffic beyond the window. Normally, she found it oddly soothing, but tonight it didn't settle her. A siren sounded in the distance, and Elphaba wondered if it was police, ambulance or fire engine- which then led her to wondering if Fiyero was experiencing a busy night while on the night shift. With a groan, Elphaba slid from her warm bed, shivering slightly as she headed to the kitchen, turning on lights as she went. She turned on the faucet a little more forcefully than perhaps necessary, waiting for the water to warm to fill the sink. Doing the dishes was exactly the kind of mindless task she needed to distract herself from her empty bed. And Fiyero.

AN. I had to find a way to have Galinda there in person, even just for a moment!