Sorry for skipping an update day! My musical had a presentation of the first 40 minutes, and I didn't get a chance to update before.
Fiyero jolted awake with a gasp, biting back a painful cry as his muscles resisted the sudden movement. It took him a moment to orient, but when he did, he found himself sitting in an armchair by the window. It was still dark outside, but the moon was bright enough to let him see who was peacefully asleep in the bed.
It took him a moment to remember the events of the night, and an even longer moment for him to remember that he'd fallen asleep in Elphaba's room.
They stayed up late talking (bonding, if you will), but he didn't remember falling asleep. He looked down at his lap, seeing a half-eaten package of dates. He had a vague memory of joking with Elphaba that this was the only type of date he could get due to his crazy hospital schedule, and couldn't remember if she had laughed or chided his stupid joke.
He checked his pager, relieved to see that he hadn't missed any messages. His phone was quiet, and he yawned out a sigh.
"Eight more hours," he muttered to himself. He had the next day and a half off, which he was grateful for. He knew he was lucky that his first graveyard shift was relatively quiet, but knew he wouldn't volunteer himself to go through this again.
He looked back at Elphaba, watching her chest rhythmically rise and fall, and quietly slipped out of the room. He went down to the lounge and poured himself a cup of coffee. Not seeing any creamer or sugar packets, he drank it bitter, which woke him up more effectively than he thought it would.
Right as the sun's rays began to peak over the horizon, he returned to Elphaba's room. "Oh. You're awake," was his greeting. "It's five-thirty."
Elphaba was awake, dressed, and sitting on the bed, her glasses perched perfectly on the bridge of her nose, reading and signing multiple documents. "Good morning, Dr. Tigulaar."
"Good morning, Dr. Thropp. How are you feeling?"
"Like I could dance the Quadling Reel."
"That good, huh?"
She smirked. "No, but I'm significantly better. That… that extra day really did help."
"I knew it would." He checked her vitals. "I'm glad you're feeling better."
"So you have my –"
"Discharge papers?" He opened the folder and handed her the thin packet. "Yes. I've already signed off. You're officially no longer a patient."
She smiled, signing where she needed to. "Wonderful. I'll see you at rounds in an hour. Congratulations on surviving overnight. And…" Her face changed for a moment. "Thank you for last night."
The young doctor grinned. "Of course. I've been told I have excellent bedside manner."
She made a face. "Good bedside manner, but horrible morning breath. You have one hour to freshen up. Go."
He huffed into his palm, grimaced, then hurried out. Elphaba gathered her things and went down to her office, making sure she had everything ready for the day.
"Guys, I'm not ready for today," Pfannee groaned, slipping into her lab coat. "I can't stand Dr. Harv. He's an annoying, arrogant, condescending, narcissistic asshole!"
"I don't know how much longer I can take," ShenShen said, draping her stethoscope around her neck. "He's either trying to get me fired, or make me quit. Either way, I don't think I'm gonna last much longer."
"The guy's a jerk," Shem agreed, closing his locker and slipping into his work sneakers. "I'm getting sick of him."
Fiyero followed the three out. They were so engrossed in their complaining that he couldn't get a word in edgewise. Even if they did let him speak, he wasn't sure his brain would be able to string enough words together to create a coherent sentence.
"I don't know if I can try kissing up to Dr. Harv for another day," Shem sighed.
"No worries. You'll be too busy kissing up to me instead," said a voice from behind.
The group turned and immediately broke into wide grins. "Dr. Thropp!"
The green woman stood behind them, her arms lightly crossed over her chest, leveling her interns a contemplating look. "I'm glad to see you're all still in one piece."
Pfannee parted from the group and approached Elphaba. The resident's wary eyes never left the intern as she closed the distance between them, her whole body stiffening when Pfannee wrapped her arms around her and buried her face in her shoulder.
"You're back," Pfannee whispered in a small, relieved voice.
Elphaba's lips parted slightly as she glanced down at the younger girl. "Dr. Norral…"
"I've missed you so much."
Shem snickered under his breath, ShenShen buried her face in her hands, and Fiyero couldn't tear his eyes away. It would've been a sweet, sentimental scene, if not for Elphaba's sour face.
"Please never leave us with Dr. Harv again. Please, Dr. Thropp," Pfannee begged.
"Dr. Norral?"
"Yeah?"
"Get off me."
ShenShen stepped forward and gently pried her friend off their boss. Elphaba straightened her lab coat and glanced at Pfannee. "If Dr. Harv was too busy breaking your spirits to teach you, I suppose it's good that I've returned."
"You have no idea," ShenShen sighed.
"Well, I'm back, you know what you're supposed to do, and you know how to do it. Let's start with rounds, then you can all be on your way." She nodded and led the way down the hall to their first patient's room. "First up, who's presenting?"
"Nidda Flyiano, forty-seven years old, has Myasthenia Gravis, a chronic, autoimmune neuromuscular disease," Shem introduced, and the patient waved. "She was diagnosed fifteen years ago, and was admitted yesterday due to trouble breathing and muscle fatigue, causing numbness in her legs."
"This isn't the worst flare-up I've had. A bit of physical therapy, infusions, and I'll be good to go," Nidda said casually. "I was perfectly fine a few days ago, but my MG loves to fluctuate and get worse right when I'm about to do something important. I was supposed to start training for the MG Awareness Marathon."
"You're a warrior," Shem smiled, and she grinned back.
"What's your treatment plan, Dr. Ottokos?" Elphaba asked.
"There's no cure for MG, but we're giving Soliris infusions," he gestured to the IV pole, "and some PT this afternoon, followed by a short round of oxygen treatments."
Elphaba nodded. "Good. Thank you, Dr. Ottokos, Ms. Flyiano."
Nidda fluttered her fingers in a wave as the doctors filed out of the room.
After an uneventful morning, Elphaba found Fiyero leaving a patient's room with a forlorn look on his face. "Dr. Tigulaar, it's past noon. Which means that you've officially finished your shift. Which means I don't understand why I still see you here."
"I was, uh, just leaving," Fiyero said, rubbing his face.
"Good. I don't wanna see you for the next day and a half."
The sentence sounded hostile, but her tone didn't. He glanced at her. Something in her eyes told him she meant it in the sincerest way possible. "Yes, Dr. Thropp."
"Good. Goodbye."
He turned and ran down to the locker room, gathered his things, and quickly left the hospital. He made it home in record time and collapsed on his sofa, his eyes closing the moment his head hit the pillow.
Several hours later, he awoke to a text from Avaric.
'Bar tonight?'
He grinned sleepily, unlocking his phone to reply. 'Sure'
The local bar was a popular post-shift hangout for the hospital staff. They loved the fun, relaxing, talkative atmosphere it provided in comparison to the clean, pristine hospital. When Fiyero walked in, he saw a few familiar faces, and quickly spotted Avaric by the pool table.
"Av!"
The EMT looked up. "Hey, Fiyero!" He made his shot, hitting two stripped balls into the pocket. "Glad you made it."
The two ordered drinks, and Avaric invited Fiyero to join him for the next game.
"How's it goin'?" Avaric asked, taking a shot and missing. He muttered a curse under his breath, but moved over to give Fiyero a turn.
"Pretty good. I'm on some compelling cases. How's fieldwork?"
"Exhilarating. I got to ride in the helicopter three days ago. I brought in the drowning patient."
"I got to watch her surgery from the gallery. It was cool… and a great reminder why I'm not a surgeon."
Avaric laughed, making his shot. "I used to want to be one of those hotshot surgeons, but I figured this would be better for my social skills."
"I hear ya. Those surgical interns don't know how to hold a decent conversation."
"All they wanna do is cut."
"I was with one of my patients the other day who was scheduled for an appendectomy, and the surgical intern practically shoved me out of the room when they came to prep him."
The two laughed and continued their game. They were almost finished when Avaric got a call.
"What? Are you kidding? Today's supposed to be my night off… But I… alright, okay, I'm coming." He hung up with a groan. "Sorry, man. I gotta go. Big car crash and they're short-staffed."
"Good luck," Fiyero nodded as Avaric hurriedly paid his tab and left. He reset the game for the next players and sat at the bar, ordering another beer.
"I thought I said I didn't want to see you for the next day and a half."
He looked up to see Elphaba sitting next to him. He hadn't realized it was her, but he wasn't sure if knowing would've prevented him from sitting down.
"You said you didn't wanna see me at the hospital," Fiyero replied with a cheeky grin.
Elphaba hummed, taking a sip of her drink. "Touché."
"Was it alright? After I left, I mean. Did everything –"
"Tigulaar, you aren't the one keeping the hospital afloat. We were perfectly fine without you."
"… Oh."
She glanced at him. "I suppose your presence was missed… slightly."
His grin returned. "Glad to know I'm indispensable."
Her lips twitched and she took another sip, brushing her hands together.
"I like your dress."
"Thanks. Glinda calls it a 'disgustifying, ill-fitting, waste of grey material', which makes me love it even more."
"It's simple and practical… and nice."
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you flirting with me?"
"If you call giving a simple compliment 'flirting'."
She eyed him, but didn't comment any further. Fiyero took a big gulp of his beer, his eyes drifting down to where Elphaba was scrolling through pictures on her phone.
"You've been to Mount Runcible?"
She glanced up. "Yeah. Glinda invited me to go skiing with her." She was aware he was watching her scroll through her digital photo album, but said nothing. "We were in undergrad; simpler times."
"You know how to ski?"
"No. I stayed in the lodge and drank all the hot chocolate. But I still had to be on photo duty for her."
"You two are really good friends."
"We were roommates. We hated each other at first, but eventually, we grew on each other. We made their annual trip for five years. Once we went to med school, we were both so busy, we never got another chance." She looked up at him. "Do you know how to ski?"
"I'm not very good, but I'm not falling on my butt every ten seconds. My winter spot of choice is ice skating."
"I'm decent at skating. Not very good, but I'm not falling on my butt every ten seconds."
He smiled, relieved that Elphaba smiled back. "Do you have any other sporty interests?"
"Not really. I didn't do sports in school. I got exempt from physical education because the nurse didn't want to deal with me passing out. I used that time as a study period."
"So what did you do for fun?"
"I just said I used it as a study period."
"That's fun?"
"It is to me."
He hummed. "I played football in high school. I wanted to get a football scholarship."
"Did you?"
"Yeah. Shiz University. I had fun there, and the cheerleaders were really… sweet."
She smiled. "I went there for undergrad, too. I went to Three Queens for med school."
"I went to Deckens College for med school."
"That program is very rigorous. I applied there, but when I went on the tour, all the med students looked dead, and I think they were giving us silent warnings not to do that to ourselves, and I heeded their advice."
"They weren't lying. I, unfortunately, ignored their warnings. I was dead, just like them, but coffee and Red Bull are great revivors, and I made it through. And I think Three Queens gave us a very good doctor."
Elphaba blushed, finishing her drink and ordering another one. "Deckens gave us a good doctor, too."
Fiyero found that the more drinks Elphaba had, the more talkative she became. The two continued to get to know each other, sharing stories about their schooling, hobbies, and other special interests.
"I like old movies," Elphaba admitted.
"Me, too. Even ones in black and white."
"I was told I would've made a great black-and-white film actress, since they're not in color. Sorry, I don't normally talk this much," Elphaba apologized after a tipsy hiccup. "Oz, it's the alcohol, but it's been a long day." She gave him a curious look. "Don't expect me to stand on a table and start singing."
"Don't apologize. And I won't. I find it beneficial to get to know you as a human."
Something in Elphaba's face changed, almost as if she was debating whether to continue to open up based on his comment. "I… should go. Unlike you, I don't have a day off tomorrow."
"You'll be alright?" he asked when she slipped off the stool.
She steadied herself, pushing away his helping hands. "I took the subway, so I'm not driving. I'll be okay."
"I can walk you back, if you want."
She studied him.
"Hey, I don't wanna be stuck with Dr. Harv again because something happened to you."
She sighed. "Very well."
They paid their tabs and left the bar together. Elphaba did her best to walk a straight line, if anything, to keep Fiyero's steading hands off of her. They made it to the subway without incident, and Fiyero insisted on walking down the stairs with her.
"Am I not allowed to care about you?" Fiyero asked as they stood at the top of the stairs.
"I am no longer your patient. I have returned to my proper place as your boss. And I'll thank you to remember that."
"Right." He straightened. He knew he struck her nerve, but didn't know why. "Goodnight, Dr. Thropp."
"Goodnight," she whispered. She turned and walked down the stairs, disappearing behind the turnstile after swiping her card.
Fiyero stood at the top of the stairs for a bit longer, out of the way of pedestrians, before making his way to another subway line in the opposite direction. He knew he would have to push that night from his mind, and prepare to pretend it never happened and be professional during his next shift. But there was no harm in him wanting to get to know his boss better.
Right?