Luckily, I had a snow day so here's chapter 5!

After a few minutes, Glinda felt something nudge her. She kept her head buried in her knees, her arms wrapped around herself tightly. The rain was still pouring down, and despite everything, it felt nice to feel water flowing down her body. It was refreshing. She continued to cry over the fact that her parents neglected to help her. What had she done to deserve this?

The nudging persisted until she looked up and came face to face with a goat looking at her sympathetically. Only, this wasn't just a goat. She immediately recognized Dr. Dillamond. She realized quickly that he couldn't speak and he was still on all fours. She gave him a sad smile before wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him close. She didn't even care that she buried her head underneath his neck. She felt his chin rest on her head, and she wondered if he could understand her. "My parents…" she managed to get out. "They…they…" She felt him nod against her head, and from that moment, she knew he could still understand her.

Dr. Dillamond nudged himself away from her. She watched as he lowered himself to the ground, using his head to indicate he wanted her to get onto his back. "You saw the whole thing, didn't you?" she asked, referring to her parents. The Goat nodded slowly and sadly. She got onto his back and let him carry her. He carried her through the city until they reached one of the cheaper ends. He indicated for her to climb off for a moment. With his nose, he nudged her pocket that had the money in it. She took it out and grasped it.

Dr. Dillamond nodded in approval and let her climb onto his back. He carried her to a small inn run by a Chimp. Glinda stood at the counter and shakily asked for a room. "Sorry," the Chimp said. "Only Animals can stay at this motel. Go find one for humans."

"Please, the human ones probably won't let Dr. Dillamond stay with me. Can you please just make one exception? I-I have nowhere to go," she cried.

"I do not think so," he said. "Sorry, but rules are rules."

"Please, I've been in Southstairs for the past five years because my best friend defied the Wizard. And today my Popsicle just disowned me because I had been away for too long…if I could change one thing about my past, I would have gone with Elphaba," she said as she rambled more so to herself than the motel manager.

"You know Elphaba?" the Chimp asked her.

"We were best friends and roommates at Shiz," she explained.

"Well then, you are more than welcome to stay here," the Chimp smiled. "A friend of Elphaba's is a friend of mine."

"Do you know where she is?" Glinda asked.

"Sadly, nobody really knows. She travels around quite a bit. It's hard to pinpoint her location."

"Does she come here often?"

"She came here once three years ago. But if she does come back, I will happily let you know," the Chimp said. "Stay here free of charge for as long as you need," he said, realizing her actual condition. He became concerned for her, and offered to help them to their room. She had ridden on Dr. Dillamond's back again and the Chimp helped her sit on the bed. It wasn't much, but it was the most comfortable thing the blonde sat on since Southstairs. The Chimp spoke to Dr. Dillamond before leaving. Glinda laid back against the bed and the Goat used his teeth to put the blankets over her.

He was about to leave the room before Glinda cried out. "Don't go, please don't leave me. I…I don't think I can do this on my own." Tears fell down from her blue eyes. Dr. Dillamond approached her and looked into her eyes. "Are you going to leave me?" she asked him. He shook his head no. "You'll come back?" she asked, and he nodded his head reassuringly. "Please come back soon."

When he left, Glinda whispered, "Please come back, Dr. Dillamond. Please stay with me and never leave me. I can't bear to be abandoned by you, too." Exhausted, Glinda fell against the pillows and closed her eyes. She hugged a second pillow close to her and cried herself to sleep. "Elphie…" she murmured before sleep overtook her.

Glinda woke up after a few hours. She panicked, but then noticed Dr. Dillamond lying on the ground. She wished he would stand normally and speak to her. Maybe she'd get him to talk someday, but it didn't seem as if it would be an easy task. He came over to her bed with pieces of paper in his mouth. She took them from him and cocked her head to the side as she observed the very messy but readable handwriting.

Miss Galinda,

I know I cannot speak, nor can I walk properly; I am merely a goat capable of complex thoughts. I write this to assure you I will not be leaving you alone to fend for yourself. I am terribly sorry for all of this happening to you. I wish I could change everything. I watched as your parents abandoned you, and I wish I could have spoken my mind during that moment. I understand things are horrible right now. However, I will be with you every step of the way; you've been abandoned one too many times, Miss Galinda, and I wish things were very different for you. I am going to do my best to become a functional Goat again and go to those Animal rehabilitation centers a few blocks away. Therefore, if I am not around between 2-4pm, that is where I will be. I left earlier today to pick a few things up for you. I apologize, but I had to use some of the money your father gave you. I am going to make sure you are okay. I will make sure you will have a place to stay, food to eat, and clean clothes. However, wherever you go and whatever you do, I will not abandon you; I will always be by your side. My purpose in life used to be history and using that in order to help Animals in Oz. However, my new purpose is to make sure you are taken care of.

I promise to never abandon you. I promise to be there for you when you're hurting, crying, laughing, and smiling. I hope one day you'll smile and laugh again just as you did when you disrupted my class all those years ago. I hope you learn to trust again. I hope you learn to love again. It took me a while after Southstairs, but I assure you, it is possible.

Dr. Dillamond

Glinda had tears of joy falling down her cheeks after she read his letter. She wondered how long it must have taken him to write it due to the fact he probably had to use his mouth to hold the pen. She smiled at him as she cried and climbed out of the bed. She hugged him tightly and cried into his chest. He put one of his arms around her, and she was thankful that she could rely on someone she once barely knew, other than the fact he was Elphaba's favorite professor and her history professor. "Thank you so much, Dr. Dillamond. I don't know what I'd…" she said, losing the ability to speak as she sobbed.

Eventually, the two broke apart. "So," Glinda said as she dried her tears. "What did you get?" she questioned as she made her way over to the bags of things. She took out some shampoo and soap; Glinda couldn't even remember the last time she took a bath. The blonde smiled when she saw he bought her a dress. It was just a simple frock, but it seemed like a ball gown to her. She'd buy herself some more clothes later. Along with it were a nightgown, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. She also got a hairbrush and hair ties.

Dr. Dillamond brought over some oatmeal he made for her. She never really liked the stuff in the past, but she happily ate the portion given to her. She smiled happily when she tasted strawberries and blueberries mixed in. She was upset with herself that her body wouldn't let her finish it. Sighing with disappointment, she then eyed the bathroom. "I haven't taken a bath in forever," she said. "I probably smell," she said, scrunching her nose.

Glinda entered the bathroom and started to draw herself a warm bath. She was thankful this place had warm water. However, when it came time to take off her clothes, she suddenly didn't feel safe. She felt pathetic for being unable to bathe on her own. But she felt as if she had no dignity left, so she didn't hesitate to ask the Goat to come in the bathroom with her. Dr. Dillamond sat down with his back towards her and stared at the door. He never turned around to glance at her. The blonde couldn't believe how her luck had turned around.

As she washed herself, she said, "In your note, you wrote Galinda. Did I ever tell you I changed my name to simply Glinda? Honestly, I did it to try and impress Fiyero at first because, well, I think I was losing him. And he seemed to pay so much attention to Elphie, and honest to Lurline she secretly loved that attention. And I had to keep Fiyero with me. It's not because I loved him. I did a pretty good job pretending I did…but I had other reasons to keep him to myself. If I broke up with him, he wouldn't even wait a day to ask Elphie to be his girlfriend.

"She would have said yes. But I didn't want them to be together; it would have broken my heart because…I'm sorry, I don't even know why I'm telling you this," Glinda apologized, but continued to talk anyway. She felt as if she needed to get this all out. "Of course I want Elphie to be happy, but I wanted her to realize…I wanted her to be happy with me, not him. I know it isn't right and I wish I wasn't this way. I've known I've been like this since I was fifteen, but the Uplands had an image and my job was to keep the family line going.

"In rich Gillikinese families, that's what the child's job is; we have no other purpose other than the fact we have to keep the bloodline going. But guess what? I'm not one of them anymore so it doesn't matter, right?" Glinda let fresh tears fall as she remembered her parents, and she immediately regretted her rant. What if what she had just admitted something that would chase the Goat away and leave her all alone again? "Anyway, I said I changed my name in honor of you because you always called me Glinda. After my whole wanting to impress Fiyero ended, after that moment, I was happy I did it."

After washing her hair multiple times and scrubbing her body until she was satisfied, Glinda got out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around herself and used one for her long blonde hair. She fell down onto the floor as she began to cry. Dr. Dillamond stayed by her side, giving her a shoulder to cry on, until she was finished. Where are you, Elphie? Will you ever come back to me? Will I ever find you?