Elphaba fiddled with her lab coat sleeve as she, Sarima, Crope, and Tibbett waited in the foyer for the CMO. She wasn't used to feeling this nervous, and hated the feeling. She wore a simple, yet stylish, dark purple dress (something Glinda convinced her to buy) under her lab coat, paired with black flats and her hair half-pulled-back, and her glasses balanced perfectly on the bridge of her nose.
"Why is it that every time we have special visitors, they never come on time?" Sarima groaned, rubbing her face as she impatiently tapped her foot. She took out her phone and started replying to her texts.
"We're busy people, too, y'know," Crope huffed.
"Very busy," Tibbett agreed, discreetly wiggling his eyebrow at Crope.
Elphaba glanced at them. "You two are wearing matching mix-matched socks."
"Wait, we are?" He lifted his pant leg slightly to reveal the socks in question. "I thought I had both blue ones. I wanted the blue ones." He frowned at Crope. "I told you to take the green ones."
"It was dark this morning. I thought I had the green ones," Crope defended himself apologetically. "At least I got one right."
"You think we can switch socks right now before the CMO comes?"
"No," Elphaba deadpanned, turning away.
Crope laughed. "You underestimate us, Thropp."
"You underestimate how much of your shenanigans I can tolerate while at work."
"Aww, but our shenanigans make the hours go by faster."
"And distract you from the fact that we already switched socks," Tibbett added with an audible grin.
Elphaba and Sarima glanced down and saw Tibbett in the blue socks, and Crope in green, both smirking at them.
"I give up," Elphaba groaned.
"I think they're funny," Sarima smirked, but paused when she saw Elphaba's face. "Are you alright, Elphaba?"
"Yes."
"You look a bit… pale."
"Don't joke like that."
"I'm not joking. Are you sure you're –"
"I'm fine, Sarima. I promised Morrible I would handle the tour, and I will."
Before she could offer more commentary, the double doors slid open, and five men in black suits and dark sunglasses marched in, followed by an older man in a tan suit.
"Oh my Oz, it's the men in black," Tibbett whispered, his jaw dropping in awe.
"It's the Wizard's Secret Service," Crope whispered back. "I can see their concealed weapons hidden in their –"
"Smiles on," Sarima reminded the group as the men approached.
"Dr. Cherrystone, I'm Dr. Elphaba Thropp, head of the diagnostic team here," Elphaba smiled professionally, stepping forward and extending her hand to the man in the tan suit.
The older doctor looked taken aback by her green hue, but quickly recovered and shook her hand. "A pleasure, Dr. Thropp."
Her fellow doctors introduced themselves and their areas, and they began with a tour of the facilities. They didn't tour the entire hospital, but only the main wings and other areas of importance. Morrible came out of her office (a rare occurrence) and showered the CMO with a flurry of lavish welcomes and praises. Crope and Tibbett bit back snickers, Sarima rolled her eyes, and Elphaba resisted the urge to gag.
They ended in the diagnostic team conference room, where they shared examples of cases they've taken, treatment options they offered, and new areas of potential discoveries. Dr. Cherrystone seemed very impressed with their work, asked questions, and offered little bits of advice and opinions.
"We have a fresh round of interns," Elphaba said as they made their way back to the main rooms.
"Ah, yes. A new generation of bright, young minds with fresh ideas and new perspectives," Dr. Cherrystone smiled.
"That's a nice way of saying they don't know what they're doing," Crope whispered.
Elphaba ignored him as they stopped in front of one of the rooms and knocked, turning the knob and pushing it open with her hip. "Dr. Tigulaar."
"No, I've never had butter on a pop tart," Fiyero said, not noticing the doctors in the doorway.
"What? Why not? It's so good!" the girl in the bed laughed.
"I never said it wasn't. I just said I've never had it."
They laughed and Fiyero looked up, his laugh slowly dissipating when he saw all the important doctors in the room. "Oh. Hi."
"As I was saying, Dr. Tigulaar is one of our interns this year," Elphaba said, giving him a nod to start.
He cleared his throat. "Right. This is Imie Liunes, age thirteen –"
"Hey, I wasn't finished!" Imie interrupted with a frown. "I was only on question seventeen! I have three more questions to ask you!"
"Honey, let Dr. Tigulaar talk to the other doctors," the man sitting by the bedside said gently, squeezing the girl's hand.
Imie pouted, but sighed. "Okay, Daddy."
"We can continue in a bit, Imie. I promised Dr. Thropp I would make her look good as my mentor," Fiyero staged-whispered to the little girl, making her giggle.
Elphaba flushed.
"Dr. Tigulaar is a very good doctor," Imie recited as if she was reading from notecards she didn't rehearse.
Fiyero grinned, ruffling her hair. "Thank you, sweetie. Anyway, Imie was diagnosed with Pompe Disease five years ago. It's slow-progressing, but she's a trouper."
"Run us through your plan of treatment, Dr. Tigulaar," Elphaba said.
"She's on regular injections of Myozyme. We also have daily time at the park downstairs."
"Recess!" Imie cheered.
"Later," Fiyero whispered with a smile. "Nothing too strenuous, but something to keep those muscles from getting stiff. We also have nightly oxygen therapy."
"I don't get to talk in my sleep with that big thing over my mouth." She pointed to the CPAP machine in the corner.
"And a healthy diet. We can have small chocolate shakes occasionally, but nothing crazy."
"No sugar rushes," she recited glumly, and her father chuckled.
"No sugar rushes," Fiyero agreed with a smile, finishing his presentation.
Elphaba glanced at Dr. Cherrystone, who was smiling. "Very good, Dr. Tigulaar," he nodded.
"Thank you, sir."
The doctors filed out of the room, but Imie called Elphaba back.
"Dr. Tigulaar didn't embarrass you, did he, Dr. Thropp?" she asked with wide, innocent eyes.
"No, Imie, he didn't," Elphaba said with a kind smile. "He did a good job."
"Good. He's a good doctor. I like him. And he didn't bribe me with a chocolate bar to say that."
"I didn't," Fiyero quipped.
"I believe her," Elphaba said with a nod. "You two continue your game." She left, closing the door behind her, mulling over the little girl's words as she caught up with the group.
Their next stop was the maternity ward. Sarima took her time to shine as she showed off their state-of-the-art equipment and NICU facilities. They didn't stay down there too long, since the NICU nurses looked like they were about to drop-kick them for overstaying their welcome.
"Thank you for showing me your facilities, doctors. You are all doing very impressive work," Dr. Cherrystone said, shaking their hands as he prepared to depart.
"The pleasure was ours, Dr. Cherrystone," Elphaba said, relieved that this intense visit was almost over.
"Dr. Thropp!"
The doctors turned towards the voice, seeing one of the interns pushing her way through the crowd to get to them.
"Oz…" Elphaba groaned under her breath.
"Dr. Thropp! My PVS patient just opened her eyes and looked at me!" Pfannee frantically called, running over to the green-skinned doctor.
A nurse ran up behind Pfannee, pausing to catch her breath before glaring at the intern, clearly annoyed. "Persisted vegetative state means that –"
"I know what it means, and I know what I saw!" she snapped testily at the nurse, and looked around for help. Four of the five doctors looked at her like she had six heads. "Dr. Thropp?"
Elphaba's face was blank, but her eyes betrayed the gears turning in her head. "PVS patients can still open their eyes as a subconscious response to stimuli, but she wasn't looking at you."
"Her eyes were closed when I examined her after," the nurse said, still glaring at Pfannee.
"I was talking to myself, or to her, or… that doesn't matter. I didn't think she'd hear me. I'm not crazy!" Pfannee protested frantically.
"I never said you were, Dr. Norral," Elphaba said calmly, silently willing the intern to do the same.
"I did," the nurse muttered.
"Get a CT and neuro-consult, but trust me, she wasn't looking at you."
Pfannee hurried away, more to prove her point than anything. The nurse rolled her eyes and stomped behind her.
"You're very patient, Dr. Thropp. Do you think Dr. Norral just imagined what she saw?" Dr. Cherrystone said.
"I don't think so. PVS patients can still have subconscious reflexive movements or spasms. The patient could have been seemingly looking at Dr. Norral, but she wasn't seeing her."
Cherrystone nodded, seemingly in approval, and took his leave.
"Thropp's gonna kill her intern," Crope and Tibbett sing-songed once they were alone, noticing the look on Elphaba's face.
"Right after she kills you two," Sarima sing-songed back once Elphaba turned on them, and the two surgeons scurried away.
"So, I hear the sixth-floor nurses throw the best parties," Fiyero casually mentioned as he leaned against the desk.
The nurse looked up and smirked. "I'm from the third floor, so you must be trying to start beef."
"One doesn't need to try and start drama at this hospital," the nurse at the computer chuckled. "But you're right. We're the fun ones and we do throw the best parties."
"Including the exclusive one this Saturday night?"
"It was exclusive, but you're the twenty-third person to ask," a nurse in dark green scrubs sighed, finishing his coffee in one big gulp and tossing the paper cup.
"And the twenty-third person we've said 'yes' to," the computer nurse said, taking a piece of scrap paper and scribbling an address. "How'd you hear about it?"
"Word of mouth."
The nurse looked up with a knowing smirk, handing Fiyero the paper. "Mr. Timliken in A243 told you, did he? The man is a horrible gossip. Party starts at seven o'clock."
When Fiyero showed up at five after seven, the house party was already in full swing. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt weirdly out of place. He tried to have fun one-in-a-while while in med school, but parties and his exam schedule clashed too much, and he realized his end goal was more important than one drunk night with lots of cute girls.
He didn't recognize most of the people there, having never seen them out of scrubs and lab coats before.
"Fiyero!"
He turned and grinned. "Avaric!" Finally, someone he recognized.
The EMT clapped him on the back and ushered him inside. "Your very first hospital party! How you doin'?"
"Well, I just got here, so –"
"So you're overdue for a drink! Yo, Yuiz, hook my man up!" He handed him a bottle of something that looked blue, but turned green when held up to the light.
"Knock, knock! It's party o'clock!"
The crowd within earshot turned to the open front door, seeing Crope and Tibbett enter to hoots, hollers, and cheers. They soaked in the ecstasy, spreading their arms and leaning back, which only encouraged more praise.
"And look, we brought a friend!" Crope smiled, turning around and presenting his hand. "Come on! You promised!"
Fiyero's eyes widened slightly when he saw who came through the door next. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed, same ol' mostly-grumpy Elphaba, except in a nice top, skinny jeans, and combat boots.
"Yuiz, hook Thropp up with your best!"
"I'm not getting drunk," Elphaba frowned, begrudgingly following them in.
"Aww. But you're much more fun when you have alcohol in your system," Tibbett pouted.
"And you know the best bawdy tunes!" Crope shouted, and everyone cheered.
Elphaba looked like a deer in headlights for a moment, but quickly recovered back to her stoic self. She accepted the drink, but swirled it around in her glass instead of taking a sip.
"C'mon, green girl, loosen up."
"Don't call me that."
"Pretty please?"
"You're not gonna leave me alone all night, are you?"
"Nope," the two chimed with cheeky grins.
"Thropp, now's not the time to be professional. You're not a doctor tonight," Crope whined.
The green woman rolled her eyes. "I will be if someone has a bit too much to drink."
"Elphaba, please? You deserve to have fun just as much as everyone else," Tibbett said sincerely.
"We have two completely different ideas of fun."
"Elphaba, just… try. Okay? Try to – Ooh, beer pong!" Tibbett grabbed Crope's hand and pulled him towards a table in the corner of the living room.
Elphaba sighed and retreated to the opposite wall. She noticed some familiar faces, but no one familiar enough to want to spend the night with. She always found parties slightly more tolerable with Glinda by her side, but it was more than understandable why the blonde wasn't in attendance.
"Hey, Fiyero!"
The Vinkun turned. "Hey, Pfannee."
"I'm so glad to see another intern. Being surrounded by all these doctors and nurses in varying stages of intoxication was getting overwhelming."
"I think it's nice that we get to see them let loose. Even Dr. Thropp came."
"I know. She thought I was crazy when I told her my PVS patient opened her eyes and looked at me. We got a CT scan, and get this! She was minimally conscious. For fifteen years, she had brain function, however minimal, and no one caught it. And I figured it out and almost had a heart attack in the process."
"Did you notify the family?"
"Yeah. They're coming tomorrow."
"That's good."
"How're your patients? How was the CMO today?"
"Great. I did some therapy with Imie. Dr. Thropp was very impressed with me, and I'm not gonna lie, it felt good."
"Fiyero! Pfannee!"
The two looked up and saw Shem and ShenShen hurrying over to them, clinging to each other, with half-empty bottles in their free hands.
"Where have you two been?" Fiyero blinked.
"Have you been here the whole time?" Pfannee asked at the same time.
"Don't worry about that," Shem chuckled, taking another swig of beer. "And yes, we have."
"This is so much fun!" ShenShen smiled. "I feel like an undergrad at a raging party again!"
"Wait, you two are still sober?" Shem frowned. "Why?"
Fiyero shrugged. "It's just… I have an early morning tomorrow and –"
"Don't worry about that. Live in the moment. We can worry about tomorrow later."
It didn't take long for the two to take Shem's advice. They drank and belted to the songs playing on the speaker and laughed.
"Dr. Tigulaar."
Fiyero turned, beer bottle still in his mouth, and gulped down the drink. "Oh. Dr. Thetial."
Sarima smiled at him. "Enjoying the party?"
"Y-Yeah. It's really fun. I had no idea doctors knew how to party like this. I mean, at the hospital, they're all stiff and –"
"Have a pointy stick up their asses," Sarima finished, downing her wine. "I couldn't agree more. We need outlets to let our crazy sides go. Plus, it's good social stimulation. I'm always down for a good 'doctor-palooza'."
Someone had switched the playlist, and a slow, romantic song played. A few booed, some cheered, and the rest made very inappropriate noises.
"Care to dance?" Sarima asked, offering Fiyero her hand.
"Sure," Fiyero said, thinking nothing of it until the OB/GYN grabbed him and pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his neck and swaying to the slow rhythm.
He had to admit, he liked dancing with Sarima. The playlist stayed on the slow songs for a while, and the two shared each one, whispering the lyrics to each other and blushing and giggling like school children.
"You're really cute," Sarima observed matter-of-factly. "I'm surprised Elphaba hasn't snapped you like a twig yet."
His jaw slacked. "Excuse me?"
"I'd do it myself, but I have an early morning tomorrow."
Was… was she… "I… I don't…"
"I'm surprised she hasn't broken your spirit and will to live," she elaborated with a small frown. "Dr. Tigulaar, I suggest you remove your mind from the gutter and place it back inside your head." She was still frowning, but her tone turned teasing as she delicately patted Fiyero's head. "Besides, I'm an OB/GYN who's always fertile. I know what pregnancy entails, and to be quite honest, I don't think it's for me."
He exhaled loudly as she returned to holding him.
"What do you say we take this upstairs?"
"Upstairs? For what?"
"It's a bit crowded down here."
His mind instantly picked up what Sarima was laying down. Oh. She wants… okay, Fiyero thought.
"You have nice jeans."
He looked down at his pants. "Oh. Thanks, I got them from –"
"No, not jeans. Genes." She stared at his face, taking in his soft features and looking like she was melting them into her mind as she felt up his muscles.
He had to manually stop his jaw from dropping. He had to get away from the tipsy, horny, baby doctor. As fate would have it, his saving grace came when the romantic playlist stopped, replaced with a karaoke version of an upbeat tune. Everyone cheered, and Fiyero's jaw dropped when he saw who was being helped onto the table.
"I told you she'd loosen up after a few drinks!" he heard Crope say as he assisted Elphaba up.
"Oh, this is gonna be good," Sarima chuckled, her smile wide as she watched Elphaba up on the table. "Someone should record this." She whipped out her phone before she finished the sentence and pressed 'record'. She forgot about Fiyero as she pushed her way through the crowd for a better angle.
Fiyero could only watch from a distance as a clearly-inebriated Elphaba began to sing an off-color song, complete with a bit of choreography. She wasn't a bad singer, but he could hear why she didn't make a career out of it. Her hair had freed itself from its tight braid, now freely flowing down her back. She wasn't wearing her glasses, giving him full view of her chocolate eyes.
"More! More! More!" the crowd chanted when the song ended, and another karaoke song was selected.
At some point during Elphaba's multiple encore performances, she noticed Fiyero in the crowd. Their eyes met more a moment, and time slowed. Fiyero could've sworn he saw Elphaba smile at him, but it could've easily been an alcohol-induced hallucination. He had a few more beers, and Elphaba took a large swig of whatever was in her cup after every song.
But there was something euphoric about that smile, something that made him think that it wasn't fully alcohol-based. Whether the smile was real or not, he was sure this would be a night he wasn't gonna forget anytime soon.