Whoa! Okay, I didn't realize how long it had actually been since I posted! So sorry about the delay!

Fiyero skidded down the hall, skirting around nurses and staff, to get to the north wing's fifth floor. By the time he got to the room, he was out of breath and sweaty, but managed to push the door open without collapsing. "Why did I get an emergency page? What is – Sweet Oz!"

Their patient was staring at them, the whites of his eyes a sickly yellow. His skin was a pale yellow, a clashing contrast to the hot rashes. "… Help…" he croaked out.

"Our patient went from a tomato to a lemon in less than twenty-four hours," Shem panicked-whispered to the other doctors. "What do we do?"

"We look at this urine bag, because this is the darkest pee I've ever seen," ShenShen frowned.

"Why's it almost black?" Pfannee hissed. "And thick?"

Their patient moaned and convulsed like he was about to vomit. Fiyero and Shem gently rolled him onto his side, but the physical contact irritated his rashes and made him holler in pain.

"We need help," ShenShen said, getting a pan ready, just in case.

"We can't call for help. Then people will know he's here," Shem hissed.

"They'll know he's here if he dies on our watch! We can't wait any longer. He's in liver failure."

"Fine. Fiyero, go get Dr. Thropp."

Fiyero's jaw dropped. "What? Why me?"

"Because she's less likely to kill you than one of us."

"What makes you think that?"

"You're her favorite."

He flinched. "What makes you say that?"

"We noticed it when you two got back from the symposium."

"I worked hard to win that competition!"

"We know, Fiyero," ShenShen sighed, trying to break up the argument before it started. "We're saying that she's your favorite because of that."

"We're not gonna lie, we were jealous at first. But now, it works to our advantage. So go get her," Shem insisted.

Fiyero took out his pager for the easier way out, but a loud gasp from the doorway stopped him.

"What in Oz's name is going on here?"

The four whipped around to see a stern-faced Nurse Greyling, glaring between them and the patient lying in the bed.

"You four, explain yourselves this instant!"

The nurse startled the interns into becoming tight-lipped, so they were relegated to sitting against the wall outside the room while a team of nurses attended to their mystery patient.

"This is so embarrassing," Pfannee sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I feel like a child in time-out."

"We are in a time-out," Shem grumbled.

"This is so unfair. We should be in there. I found him, and he's our patient," ShenShen said, raising her voice to get the last part of her statement through the door.

It stayed closed.

"Will we get kicked out of the program for this?" Pfannee asked.

"We just have to remind them of our good intentions, and lay it on thick," Shem said.

Footsteps caught their attention, and they turned to see Elphaba and Tibbett calmly approaching.

"She looks calm. I don't think Greyling told her anything yet," ShenShen whispered behind her clipboard.

"I'd take that as a good sign. Let's hope it lasts," Fiyero said.

The door finally opened and Greyling stepped out. "Dr. Thropp. Dr. Miluyse."

"Greyling, why are my interns sitting in a time-out?" Elphaba asked. She turned to the interns. "What did you buffoons do?"

"I don't think it's lasting," Shem groaned, his shoulders sagging.

"D'aww, they look so pitiful," Tibbett chuckled, taking out his phone and snapping a pic of the pitiful interns.

"I was with my sixty-three-year-old patient with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, so this better be important," Elphaba sighed, waiting for an explanation from her pitiful students.

"Dr. Thropp, these for were engaging in unauthorized medical practices," Greyling reported with authority.

"Don't tell me they killed someone."

"They would have, if I hadn't stepped in." She gestured for Elphaba to peek inside the room.

Elphaba pushed the door open and looked through the crack, her eyes widening when she saw the number of tubes and machinery the man was connected to. She turned back to the group with narrowed eyes. "Explain yourselves."

"He came into the clinic a few days ago –" Pfannee started.

"When specifically?"

"Saturday. And I couldn't turn him away. I wanted to find out what he was s-"

"He always comes to the clinic wanting prescription painkillers that he doesn't need," Greyling interjected.

"He needed help. And we took an oath to help people needing medical assistance."

"They didn't even bother to create a chart for him."

"If we did, we would've gotten… caught."

"You were worried about getting caught?" Elphaba asked with a raised eyebrow. "You essentially kidnapped a man –"

"We did it to save his life!"

"You kidnapped a man!"

"I was trying to help him."

"By kidnapping him? And possibly making whatever he came in with even worse. What's wrong with him? What's wrong with you? All of you!"

"We were just about to call for you to help us," Pfannee insisted. "We tried to do it by ourselves, but we got in over our heads and –"

"Say less. As a matter of fact, say nothing else. Nothing at all," Elphaba said. She took off her glasses, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I want a full lab workup."

"We've been running tests and –"

"Wait… that's why the budget shrunk?!" Tibbett gasped, his amusement at the interns' plight instantly depleted. "Elphaba, if you don't kick their asses, I will."

"You'll have to get in line behind me," Greyling said, stepping aside as one of the nurses came out.

"The rash is from Kawasaki disease," the nurse said, scanning through the paper chart. "His blood vessels are inflamed. That, along with his jaundice, and gastroparesis –"

"I knew it could be gastroparesis!" Shem exclaimed, punching the air. Fiyero grabbed his arm and pulled it back down.

"We need to admit him and start dialysis immediately, and find out why his stomach isn't emptying its contents. We'll try to find the blockage."

"Of course. Take care of him, Yartz. And create a chart in the system. Keep him here until he's stable enough to be moved into the general wing," Greyling said.

The younger nurse nodded and disappeared back into the room.

"Greyling, take these four directly to my office. Do not let them out of your sight for a tick-tock. They are to wait for me there. They are not to speak to anyone, or look at anything; in fact, make sure they don't even breathe too loudly," Elphaba said, her tone a tight calm.

Greyling nodded and sharply motioned for the interns to stand. They quickly responded as if under a spell, glumly dragging their feet past Elphaba and Tibbett.

"Get in line behind me, Tibbett," Elphaba groaned through clenched teeth. Her pager buzzed and she glanced down. "Nessa, I'm busy!" She pulled out her cell, muttering a string of curses as she quickly dialed a number. "Nessa, please. I'm working right now. I sat with you for an hour and a half this morning. Please stop having the nurses page me because you want another smoothie." She stomped away, leaving Tibbett to watch the remaining nurses tend to the patient.

"We just went from being in a time-out to being under house arrest," Shem groaned.

"We're sooooo getting fired," Pfannee mumbled, staring at the multicolored bouncing bubbles screensaver on Elphaba's computer.

"Assuming Dr. Thropp doesn't kill us," Fiyero said, resting his head against ShenShen's shoulder, watching her play Jewel Tone on her phone.

"We all know she has access to things that won't appear on an autopsy."

"We have access to those things, too," Shem said.

"Not if we're dead."

The door opened and Elphaba stepped in, closing it behind her. The interns stood up, Pfannee moving away from the computer to join the others in front of the couch.

"Your four are idiots," was Elphaba's preamble-less intro. She didn't say it in her usual way when she was dealing with their normal foolishness. She was serious this time. "Foolish idiots who somehow managed to get away with this for far too long… and I let you get away with it for far too long."

ShenShen cleared her throat. "Dr. Thropp, we didn't –"

"Don't speak, Minkos. Anything you say can be used against you."

We're gonna be sued? Or get the hospital sued? Fiyero thought.

She crossed her arms and shifted her weight. "The patient –"

"His name is Mamon Bijj," ShenShen blurted. "He's twenty-eight years old. His mother is a police chief, and his father is a chef. He was in-between jobs, which cut off his medical insurance. He had no prior medical emergencies before this, and he needed our help."

The room was silent after her rant, all eyes staring at her. Knowing that she had just dug her own grave with no way out, she continued.

"I didn't believe what I was told about him just coming to the clinic for pain meds. I could see that he really needed help. But I knew I couldn't do it alone."

Elphaba regarded her. "So why didn't you ask for help?"

"I did. Shem, Pfannee, and Fiyero were also on the case."

"And it didn't cross your minds to ask me right off the bat?"

"You would've said 'no'."

"Damn right. You know me so well. And after I said 'no' to your secret plan, I would've tried to come up with a solution that would've avoided this whole mess." She sat at her desk. "This isn't just about trying to do our best to help people. Of course, that's the end goal, but there's so much more to it than that. If he had died, under our watch, it would've launched a whole investigation as to why he was here, how he died, and it would reflect badly on the quality of care this hospital provides."

"Oh. We didn't think about that," Fiyero muttered sheepishly.

"No. You didn't... because I didn't teach it to you."

"But if we had successfully diagnosed him, it would've reflected well on the hospital… and us," ShenShen said.

"So you wanted to use this as a means to gain recognition?"

"Well… it sounds selfish when you say it like that. Is Manom gonna be alright?"

"Mr. Bijj is on fluids now. Provided everything goes according to plan, he should make a full recovery in a few weeks."

ShenShen let out a sigh of relief, Pfannee's shoulders relaxed, and Shem pulled his fellow interns into a tight hug. Fiyero looked expectantly at Elphaba, feeling a 'but' coming.

"I have a feeling we're not off the hook," Fiyero said slowly.

Elphaba nodded. "Again, you all know me so well." She cleaned her glasses on her lab coat before slipping them back onto her face. "I've convinced Morrible not to dishonorably discharge you and revoke your licenses. However, that doesn't mean you're off the hook. For the foreseeable future, you're on the hook – attached to it, in fact."

"And the hook is…"

"My side. You are all to be my literal shadows. I need to keep my eyes on you all the time." To her, it felt like she was being punished, too. And while she hated it, she felt like she deserved it for not keeping a close enough eye on them in the first place.

But it's what she had to do to keep them from getting fired. She was their teacher, and it was high time she started teaching.

"Paging Dr. Thropp to Room 420. Dr. Thropp to Room 420," came a female voice over the loudspeaker.

"Oz, Nessa!" Elphaba groaned. She started to walk out, then remembered what she had just said. "Remember when I said you had to be my shadows? That starts right now."

The four jumped into a line behind her and followed her out. They knew Dr. Thropp always walked with a purpose, but when they were forced to follow and keep up with her, it sunk in how fast she actually walked. By the time they reached the room, the four were out of breath.

"You four need to get in shape if keeping up with me overworks your lungs," Elphaba said before pushing the door open with her hip. "Hello, Nessa."

The interns immediately noted her tone change. They were used to her chastising them, then immediately switching when talking to a patient, but something about this was different. She seemed softer with this person.

"There you are," Nessa frowned, weakly pushing herself up. "You didn't answer your cell when I called you back, so I had the nurses page you."

"Yes. You did. Over the loudspeaker."

"I figured it would be more effective. And I was right."

She hoped that her giving in to her sister now wouldn't give her permission to do it all the time. "Where's Father?"

"He went back to the townhouse. He looked exhausted, so I told him to go rest, and that you would sit with me until he returns this evening."

"Mmhmm," Elphaba hummed. That was the only response she felt comfortable giving. She checked her sister's freshly-changed bandage and tried to do a vitals check, but Nessa pushed her hand away.

"The nurse already did that. I don't need you to be a doctor right now."

"Unfortunately for you, I am a doctor right now."

Nessa turned to the interns, as if just noticing them. "Who are they?"

"They're my interns. Interns, Nessa. Nessa, interns."

"Why are they just standing there? Can't you tell them to go away?"

"No, because they can't leave my side."

"Why not?"

"Nessie, I have to finish working now. I get off at six. Can you wait until then?"

The younger girl made a put-out face, and Elphaba was prepared for her sister to have a fit. But to her surprise, Nessa's face softened ever-so-slightly. "You will be paged again if you're not back here at six-o-one."

Elphaba quickly swallowed her pre-planned retort and nodded. "I'll see you then." She planted a soft kiss on her sister's cheek and left with the interns in tow.

As promised, Elphaba returned to Room 420 at exactly six-o-one, intern-free. When she arrived, she saw her father sitting at the table by the window, buried in his laptop, while Nessa lazily flipped through the TV stations.

"I knew you wouldn't be late," Nessa said in her usual tone.

"I knew what you'd do if I was," Elphaba replied, setting her bag down at the foot of the bed and removing her lab coat. "Hello, Father."

Frex briefly looked up to acknowledge his eldest daughter before returning to work.

"How are you feeling, Nessie?"

"Tired, and bored. When can I go home?"

"In a few days. Dr. Miluyse wants to keep you under observation."

"Why for so long?"

"It's standard procedure. He knows that if anything happens to you, I'll come after him."

Nessa made a face. "So I'm stuck here because you insisted on giving me special treatment?"

"That's exactly right."

"Don't tease me, Elphaba. I'm sick."

"I know. And hospital cable is horrible, and so's the food," she recited with a small smile. "Visiting hours are over in an hour, so is there anything you need from me?"

"Can't you stay tonight?"

"I'm not on-call tonight."

"Then you can stay and don't have to worry about work."

Elphaba sighed. She had two choices; say 'no' and be reprimanded by their father, or say 'yes' and not get any rest for her long day tomorrow. She had been on her feet for most of the day and just wanted to collapse in bed.

"They haven't been letting Father stay past visiting hours. I've been all alone at night."

"Have you not been sleeping well?"

"If I say 'no', you'll stay, won't you?"

She hated it when her sister was unnecessarily manipulative. She was more than capable of simply asking for (or demanding) what she wanted, so she could deal without untwisting her words. "I can stay 'til eight, but that's it."

Frex looked up and was about to protest, but Nessa surprisingly beat him to it. "That's alright."

"Do you want take-out tonight, since you don't like the hospital food?"

"Yes. I want the garden salad from Meadows."

"Alright." She turned to leave, but Nessa called her back.

"Leave your bag."

"Why?"

"So you'll have to come back."

She gave her a look, but pocketed her phone and wallet, and left her bag on the chair. If anything, this little, seemingly meaningless, gesture would placate her sister and, by extension, her father.

She returned thirty minutes later, food in hand, and set it up on the bed tray. With only half an hour left of visiting time, Frex and Nessa spent it in deep conversations. Elphaba stayed off to the side, her presence seemingly forgotten until Frex left, and Nessa found herself alone with her sister.

"My hair is tangled. The nurses won't brush my hair, fearing they'll tear my stitches. And Father doesn't know how I like my hair brushed," Nessa said, carefully pawing at her head.

Elphaba quickly, yet gently, stopped her. Her incision was healed enough for less-bandages, but not healed enough to be overly-aggravated. She dug through Nessa's bag and pulled out her blue, soft bristle brush. She sat on the bed and gently ran the brush over Nessa's ends, slowly working her way up. Nessa winced a few times, but was never in any real pain.

"Thanks," she whispered once Elphaba finished, feeling slightly better now that her hair was neat. She turned to her, her eyes squinting as she studied her. "You look tired. You should go home and get some rest."

Nessa wasn't known for having a caring nature, especially when it involved going against what she wanted, so Elphaba could only stare at her, trying to decipher whether this was a joke or a test or something else that would make their father yell at her.

"I mean it," Nessa continued, trying to dissipate her sister's suspicions.

It didn't help, only making it feel more like a test. "I'm fine." It sometimes scared her how truthful her lies sounded. Sometimes, she was even able to fool herself that she was telling the truth. She shouldn't be this good at lying. "I promised I would stay, and I will."

Having gotten her way, Nessa was, of course, pleased, and smiled as Elphaba settled next to her on the bed. She snuggled closer and rested her head on her sister's shoulder.

It had been a while since the sisters were in this position, and while surprised at the contact, Elphaba didn't stiffen the way she normally did. Instead, she put her arm around Nessa and gently pulled her closer. She grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels until they found a movie they both liked.

This is how it's supposed to be, Elphaba thought, letting the movie become background noise as her eyes slowly drifted closed.