Fiyero was almost trampled by a herd of stampeding nurses as he rounded the corner. He barely had time to jump out of the way, his back crashing against the wall.

"Tigulaar, stop dithering! We need to move! Come on!" Elphaba called as she ran past him.

"Where are we going?"

"No time for questions! Just move it! Right now!"

He quickly shook it off and followed his boss down to the clinic. When they got down there, he froze at the sight. The only thing distinguishing the doctors from the patients were the lab coats, since the E.R. doctors and interns were all on the floor, all varying degrees of ill.

"What in Oz…" Elphaba whispered, looking around.

"They all just collapsed, Dr. Thropp," a nurse said, handing out masks as a precaution. "We don't know what happened."

"Dr. Maynan was complaining of a dry throat and sore muscles before she collapsed," a nurse said.

"Dr. Harv's vomiting in the bathroom," another nurse said, coming out of the bathroom with a toxins bag.

"Korienne!" Shem cried, pushing his way through the crowd and falling to his knees beside the brunette nurse leaning against the wall. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her close. "Are you alright?"

"Tox… ic…" she whispered, looking at Shem through tear-filled eyes, willing him to understand.

"Toxic? What's toxic?"

"Can we open the windows?" an unaffected patient asked.

"No. Whatever's in here needs to be contained. We can't risk it spreading before we find out what's going on." Elphaba said, handing the woman a mask.

No one else seemed to be affected by this mysterious illness, and the doctors went to work treating everyone.

"How did this start, Naoah?" Fiyero asked one of the nurses.

"Dr. Maynan got sick out of nowhere, and she had bloodwork to deliver to the lab, so she asked Korienne to do it," Naoah said, handing a sick doctor a glass of water.

"What's the patient's name?"

"Ahnelli… Swaleed," Korienne whispered through a cough. "I… remember… from the bag."

"Ahnelli started vomiting blood, so she was admitted. We don't know where she is right now," Naoah continued, trying to see if her transition was tracked on the tablet.

The doors burst open and everyone turned, seeing another doctor hurry in and go directly up to Elphaba. "Dr. Thropp, everyone who's not seriously ill needs to be moved outside. Now."

Elphaba's eyebrow rose. "Why? What's going on, Dr. Grimalkin?"

"Dr. Hazule down in the lab is horribly sick. He passed out after opening Ahnelli Swaleed's blood sample. I saw copies of the scans. There were little, manilla-colored particles in her blood, which had a chemical smell. Her blood is toxic. That's why everyone who was around her exposed blood is sick."

"Oz…" Elphaba muttered. "Naoah, what did Ahnelli come to the clinic for?"

"She was complaining of severe joint pain. She's been in remission for kidney cancer for five years," Naoah said, pointing to the information on the computer.

Elphaba quickly scanned the words. "Fiyero and Shem, help evacuate everyone who's not sick. Naoah, page Dr. Dyl. Tell her that Ahnelli Swaleed needs to be put in immediate quarantine and no one is to go near her without wearing a hazmat suit. We need to start her on dialysis immediately to remove the toxins from her blood. And page Dr. Hinnt to get oxygen masks for everyone affected by the toxic blood."

"Yes, Dr. Thropp," Naoah said, pulling her pager from her pocket.

"Dr. Grimalkin, is Dr. Hazule still down in the lab?"

"I think so," Dr. Grimalkin nodded, gravely stroking his beard.

"We need to get him out and treated, and make sure no one else comes in contact with that blood sample."

"I'll page Naur to grab the spare hazmat suit from the red closet and go down to the lab."

Elphaba watched as Fiyero, Shem, and three nurses led an orderly evacuation of the clinic. Once things were a bit clearer and more organized, she treated some of the sicker patients. She was able to help most of them, but a few had to be admitted. She helped the sick doctors and nurses with their oxygen masks, and the patients were led back inside, treated fully, and discharged. She was finally able to take a breath once everything was back in order.

"How's Ahnelli doing?" she asked Naoah.

"Fine. The dialysis is working. Her family is with her now. The lab was able to do a full analysis of her blood thanks to the hazmat suits. She had an excess of Dimethyl Sulfone in her blood and joint tissue, with caused the manilla-colored particles in her blood."

"But Dimethyl Sulfone is harmless," Elphaba started, then interrupted her own thought. "Unless it breaks down and combines with natural sulfate compounds inside the body. And Dimethyl Sulfate can cause damage to the heart, liver, and kidneys." She sighed, leaning back against the wall. "At least we caught it in time."

"We saved her, and everyone affected by her blood will be alright."

Elphaba nodded. "Good. I have to get back upstairs. Thank you, Naoah."

"Of course, Dr. Thropp," the nurse nodded, going over to the computer at the nurses' station as Elphaba went back up to her office.

Elphaba was grateful for the solace of her office after the chaotic morning. She had an hour before she had to check on her patients, and used the quiet time to take a quick nap. When she woke up, she felt a bit lightheaded, and took a few sips of water. It took a while for her eyes to want to adjust to the light, but once they did, she slowly got up and continued her day.

All the interns were surprised when they were all paged to the atrium before their morning rounds. When they gathered, they saw Elphaba standing on the staircase, a few steps above them to give her a clear view of everyone.

"Alright, I'll make this announcement quick. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Dr. Pari Manom Medical Symposium is coming up at the end of the month in Tenniken."

The crowd of interns began to murmur, but Elphaba held up her hand to silence them.

"I will be presenting my continued work on Dr. Dillamond's initial research, and I've decided that I will also take one intern as my assistant. If you wish to be put in the running, the sign-up sheet will be posted outside my office, and will be taken down at the end of the day today. Once you are in the running, you will be quizzed on all the material you should know by now by your residents and myself. There will be an exam the week before the symposium. Whoever gets the highest score will be joining me."

The murmurs turned excited, and Elphaba dismissed them with a wordless nod and turned to walk up the stairs. A small group followed her, eager to be the first to put their names on the list.

"Dr. Thropp's very academic. I'm not surprised she's holding a test to see who can match her brain power," Shem said, signing his name under Fiyero's during their afternoon break.

"Think of it as extra practice for our intern exam," Pfannee said, grabbing the pen from Shem.

"Urgh. The intern exam. It's still months away, and I'm already dreading it," ShenShen said, taking her turn to sign up, but Elphaba flung her door open, causing her to almost sign her forehead.

"Dermatology needs help today," Elphaba said, ducking away from the sharp object very close to her face. "East Wing, fifth floor. Go up now." She closed her office door and disappeared down the hall.

"Dermatology? Don't they just give facials and massages with lotion all day?" Shem asked.

"Yeah! Let's go!" ShenShen said, grabbing Pfannee's hand and leading the way.

When the four got up to Dermatology, they didn't know what to expect, but what they walked into wasn't what they were expecting at all. They were greeted by a warm and serene atmosphere, soft music playing, and a large rock waterfall in the corner.

"I love this place," ShenShen whispered.

"Ah, you must be the four interns Dr. Thropp sent," a doctor in pink scrubs said, approaching the four with a wide grin. "I'm Dr. Yuo, and you'll be assisting our interns today. They're practicing new skin healing techniques."

"We get facials?" Pfannee asked with a wide grin.

"Yes, but Dr. Thropp doesn't know that I stole her interns for a day of practice pampering. So don't tell anyone, especially her."

"I love this place," ShenShen repeated, following Dr. Yuo into the exam rooms.

For the rest of the day, the four interns were paired with four dermatology interns, who practiced on them. The four enjoyed their facials, relaxing deep tissue massages, comforting music, and aroma therapy. They gave feedback to the interns on what felt good and what didn't, and other general feedback. By the end of their shifts, the four didn't want to leave.

"I wanna go back," Pfannee whined as they left, slipping her travel-sized hand cream into her pocket.

"I feel like a new person," Fiyero grinned, inhaling deeply.

"I've never felt this alive in my life," Shem smiled. "There are no more toxins in my body." His pager beeped and he pulled it from his pocket. "Dr. Thropp wants us all to check in with her before we leave."

"They had raspberry-infused water. Why don't we have raspberry-infused water? I'd have less grey hair and pre-mature wrinkles if we had raspberry-infused water," ShenShen sighed dreamily.

"Guys, we can't go back to Dr. Thropp looking all happy. She'll know we didn't do any work, and we'll never get to go back again. No more smiling," Pfannee said, taking deep breaths and trying (and failing) to massage the smile off her face.

They met their resident as she was coming out of a patient's room.

"Dermatology went well?" Elphaba asked, studying her interns' faces.

"Yes. We all learned a lot," Fiyero nodded.

"They worked a lot. I mean… we worked a lot…they worked a lot… on us… I mean, with us… I mean…" Shem blurted, shutting his mouth once ShenShen jabbed him in the ribs.

Elphaba nodded. "Good. It's good for you to experience different departments during your intern year. You're not tied down to anything yet. You should enjoy the freedom you have. Get some rest. All four of you have a long day tomorrow. I ask dermatology to give you the deep treatments, so I expect to see you still glowing tomorrow."

"She knew?" Shem whispered once they were out of earshot.

"No thanks to your horrible lying," ShenShen said, lightly whacking his arm.

"Dr. Thropp has eyes and ears all over this hospital. We should know that by now," Pfannee said.

"That was probably her way of doing something nice for us before she makes us hate her," Fiyero pointed out, parting with his friends outside the hospital and heading home.

Turns out, Fiyero was right. As soon as they met Elphaba outside her office for rounds, she quizzed them on everything they were supposed to know, and was visibly displeased if they took too long to answer or answered incorrectly.

"We can't take it personally if one of us wants to go to the medical symposium," Fiyero said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

The four were used to Dr. Thropp breathing down their necks, which gave them a slight advantage over the interns who were paired with other, slightly-less-strict residents.

"What are you doing, Dr. Tigulaar?" Elphaba asked from the open doorway of a patient's room.

Fiyero looked up. "A fluid wave test for ascites, Dr. Thropp."

"Which is?"

"Fluid buildup in the abdominal cavity." He lightly poked one side of his patient's abdomen, resting his hand on the other side. "Negative."

"What would it mean if it was positive?"

"Various things, including, but not limited to, Hep B or C, kidney failure, and heart failure." He quickly turned to his patient, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "But again, it's negative, so it's none of those things."

Elphaba nodded and left, and Fiyero let out a loud breath.

…...

"Dr. Quellin is still in the lead," Fiyero said, looking at the rankings chart. "How many patients has he successfully diagnosed?"

"Twelve… today," ShenShen sighed, scrolling through pictures on her phone.

"He works hard. If he's not with a patient, he's in the library. The thing I hate about him is that he's just so… nice. And not the fake-nice. He's nice-nice. I asked him to help me with updating a patient's digital chart, and he did. Without complaining or telling Dr. Thropp that he helped me." He rubbed his face. "He's just so Oz-damned nice."

"He won't let you win, though," Shem sighed.

"Yeah. That's true."

"There's only one thing you can do."

"Cheat."

"Yeah! Wait, what? Fiyero, wait! No!" he called after his retreating coworker. "I meant work harder!"

"To not get caught cheating! Relax, I'm not gonna cheat," he chuckled at the look on his friend's face. "Dr. Thropp knows what I'm about to do before I even think about doing it." But he knew she wasn't ready for what he was about to ask her.

…...

"Come in," Elphaba called to a knock on her door. The door opened, but she didn't turn, too engrossed in lab results to show her guest more than the back of her head. "Yes, Dr. Tigulaar?"

"How'd you know it was me?" Fiyero asked, closing the door behind him.

"I know everything."

"Is now a bad time?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"You're brooding."

She frowned. "I don't brood."

"Yes, you do. You get this frown on your face that's, admittingly, kinda cute. You also do it when you're concentrating, but right now, you're brooding."

"What did you do, Tigulaar? Either you tell me, or I find out. and you don't want me to find out."

"You won't have to find anything out because I don't have anything bad to tell you."

"Then why are you in here?"

"I can only come in here when something's wrong?"

She finally looked up at him with a withering glance. "What do you need?"

"Have dinner with me."

Her jaw slacked. "Excuse me?"

"Have dinner with me."

"You're breaking my concentration to ask me to have dinner with you, when you should be studying for the medical symposium trip that you wanted to sign up for?"

"We haven't had an evening together since the movies. I thought that was fun, and I'd like to share another evening with you. Plus, I have a lot of knowledge in my brain. You saw that today. If I overstuff it, it'll explode. And then Dr. Miluyse will have to operate on my mushy brain."

She leaned back in her chair. "Tomorrow, I get off at seven."

He nodded. "I get off at six-thirty. Have you ever been to Meadows?"

She hummed, lighting crossing her arms over her chest. "I have. It's a nice restaurant."

"Shall we do Meadows tomorrow at eight?"

"Sure."

He grinned, handing her the large binder under his arm. "If you're looking for the tumor, it's right there." He pointed to a light spot near the side of the scan on her desk.

Elphaba stared at him in semi-disbelief as he practically sauntered out of her office before squinting at the film. She didn't know how she'd missed the tumor. She made the appropriate notes and left to tell her patient the news.