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Code Greens terrify the shit out of Doctor Beth Schwartz. Mostly, that’s due to the fact that when the Queen family and members of Team Arrow arrive in the hospital, Beth almost always has no idea what to expect. She could have the Green Arrow dragged in with bullet wounds littering his torso, or she could have his thirteen-year-old son being admitted with a bad case of the flu. Whether her patient is on the verge of death, or just needs a little TLC, the doctor still has to suffer through a brief period of intense fear when she’s paged for a Code Green, and has no idea what she’ll be dealing with.
So when a Code Green is called down in the ER, that strangling alarm strikes through Beth’s heart as she hands off her patient list to another doctor and rushes down. Other doctors and nurses cheer her as she passes them in the corridors and she manages to shoot weak smiles at all of them. The entire hospital staff admire her for her commitment to aiding the city’s heroes and vigilantes when they’re injured, but Beth doesn’t want nor need their admiration. She wants and needs her patients to stop being so goddamn reckless and getting hurt all the time.
Nurses are bustling around, looking panicked when Beth arrives. She has to push through the group surrounding the person who she suspects is her patient to even get a look at them.
“Oh, fuck,” she mutters.
Lieutenant Dinah Drake is carrying an unconscious Felicity Smoak in her arms, the blonde’s head tucked beneath her chin. Judging by the Black Canary suit Dinah is wearing, she’s come straight from a patrol. The vigilante cradles Felicity closely to her chest, near possessively, her eyes narrowed at everybody who tries to take the blonde away from her.
Dinah’s suspicious expression morphs into one of relief when she catches sight of Beth hurrying forwards. “Dr Schwartz.”
“Are you okay carrying her?” she asks sharply. At Dinah’s nod, she turns around and starts leading her out of the crowded waiting room. “Okay, wanna tell me what happened?”
“According to Curtis, they were working on some intel for us and then she just passed out in the bunker from -”
Whipping around and cutting Dinah off, Beth orders one of the men manning the desk, “Okay, I’m going to need Dr Colburn from Radiology down here stat. Can you please also call up to Pathology and tell them that any blood that comes through with a Code Green label needs to be top priority?” Once the man nods, picking up the phone to begin making calls, Beth turns back to Dinah, continuing to guide her down the corridor. “We need to run an MRI and a CAT scan ASAP. Find out what the cause of her passing out was. Is her husband aware of what happened?”
Shifting Felicity carefully in her arms so she’s carrying her more securely, Dinah follows Beth as they make their way towards the private ER room. “Oliver was out in the field when it happened. I was closest so I rushed back. I’m sure Curtis told the rest of the team about what happened though, so Oliver’s probably on his way here. Most likely with the kids too. Dr Schwartz, honestly you don’t need to worry so much, it’s just -”
“What about symptoms? To your knowledge has Felicity been experiencing dizzy spells recently? Been feeling weak, excessively tired? Suffering from headaches or migraines? Lost any time?”
“BETH!” Dinah shouts.
Beth pauses in the doorway to the private room, frowning at her.
“Felicity’s just dehydrated,” Dinah rolls her eyes.
The doctor stares at her for a moment. Opens her mouth to speak but then shuts her jaw, swallowing. Her throat dry, Beth repeats disbelievingly, “Dehydrated?”
“Yeah.”
“... cancel that request for Dr Colburn to come down. And don’t bother with that call to Pathology.”
Shaking her head slowly, the doctor guides Dinah into the private room, helping her lower Felicity onto the bed and beginning to clip on monitor leads to check the blonde’s pulse, oxygen and glucose levels. She examines the screen, noting her patient’s rapid heart rate and low blood pressure. Pinching the back of Felicity’s hand delicately, Beths sighs when the skin doesn’t fall back into place, indicating Dinah was telling the truth about the dehydration.
“I swear to god, one day your team is going to kill me with stress,” she murmurs under her breath. Kicking a chair out, she nods to the vigilante. “Take a seat. I’ll start a rehydration treatment and we’ll have to wait for her to wake up.”
Dinah brushes a lock of Felicity’s hair out of her face, gazing down at her. “She’ll be okay, though, right?” she asks worriedly.
“Felicity will be fine,” the doctor reassures her. “You might want to text Oliver, tell him not to freak out that his wife is dying.”
“Good idea,” Dinah mutters.
The vigilante remains in her chair by Felicity’s side, holding the unconscious blonde’s hand with one while she uses the other to sent messaged on her cell phone. Beth sets Felicity up on an IV with a high-electrolyte concentration fluid. It’s the quickest way to rehydrate her as she can’t drink any oral rehydration solution while passed out. Luckily, it doesn’t look as if Felicity is severely dehydrated. Beth will be able to release her later today, providing she wakes up and the treatment works.
Oliver almost kicks the door off its hinges when he enters, still dressed in the Green Arrow suit, looking panicked and alarmed. His son peeks into the room from behind him and the archer is carrying his baby daughter in his arms, although she seems to be napping. Oliver didn’t even stop off at the bunker to drop off his quiver and bow.
Before he can start frantically asking questioned, Dinah shoots up from her seat and raises her hands, calming him quickly as she explains, “She’s okay. Like I said in the text, it’s just dehydration.”
“Are you sure?” Oliver asks, flitting next to the bed his wife is lying on nervously.
“Dr Schwartz said so,” Dinah casts a glance over at her.
Oliver’s anxious gaze immediately darts over to the doctor. “She’ll be okay?”
“Felicity will be lethargic, thirsty and a little weak for the next couple of days, but she should be fine,” Beth reassures him. “Look, give Lieutenant Drake Addie to hold and come in. Will, you can come in too. Close the door behind you please.”
Oliver ushers William inside gently before carefully passing baby Addie over to Dinah. She lights up as she props the baby on her shoulder, standing so William can take her chair. It’s clear to Beth that Dinah’s very fond of Addie, tickling the baby’s sides and grinning widely when she giggles and clenches her tiny fists in Dinah’s Black Canary jacket. Dropping his bow next to the door, Oliver leans on the side of the hospital bed, placing his hand protectively over his wife’s shoulder. He barely notices Beth moving around him to check on the IV and Felicity’s vitals.
“I told Felicity she needed to see a doctor,” William says matter-of-factly, swinging his legs back and forth as he frowns at his stepmom concernedly. “She’s been complaining of bad headaches and feeling dizzy for days. She insisted that she was okay but I knew something was up.”
“That answers your question about symptoms,” Dinah shrugs.
Oliver shakes his head, gazing at his son with an upset expression on his face. “She didn’t mention anything to me.”
“Because last time she got a headache, you refused to let her out of bed for a week, locked her in the apartment and took away all her electronics,” William rolls his eyes. “Both of us are terrified to so much as cough or sneeze around you, because you seem to have decided that you need to declare war against every pathogenic virus and bacterium in existence.”
Beth fails to muffle her snicker of amusement behind her hand, causing the archer to shoot her an annoyed glare. But at this point, she’s immune to the Green Arrow’s angry glowers. “It’s my job to fight the evil germs and microbes, Oliver. It’s your job to fight the criminals of Star City.”
“You should show Dr Schwartz those leaves you brought back from Lian Yu that you use to treat basically any illness or injury,” Dinah raises an eyebrow.
“They’re herbs, not leaves,” Oliver scowls at her. “And I’ll have you know that those herbs have saved my life multiple times. Brewed into a tea, they can basically cure anything. Including Pit Viper venom poisoning and Vertigo overdoses.”
“Taste like shit though.”
Beth whips around on hearing Felicity’s slightly slurred voice, from where she’s making quick notes so she can update Felicity’s hospital file later. She hastily pushes forwards, shoving Oliver, William, and Dinah back as they crowded around her the moment Felicity showed signs of waking up. The archer growls frustratedly, trying to squeeze around Beth and stand beside his wife, but the doctor fixes him with a stern look, ordering him silently to back off.
“Look at me,” Beth says, examining the monitor readings and then pulling out a small torch. Felicity winces as the doctor checks her pupil reactions. “You’re at Star City General Hospital. Can you tell me your full name, date of birth and what month it is?”
“Felicity Megan Smoak-Queen, July 24th and it’s November,” Felicity says, blinking blearily but sounding a lot more coherent now. “Beth? What… what happened?”
“What do you remember?” Beth asks. She might have to get Felicity in for a CAT scan - judging by the sluggishness of her pupil reactions, it’s possible she has a mild concussion, although it could just be due to her dehydration.
“I was in the bunker with Curtis,” the blonde mutters. “The rest of the team were out patrolling. We were trying to track some guys who broke into a Wayne Enterprises warehouse that stores experimental tech… I got dizzy. Lost my balance. I remember Curtis yelling my name and I think I… fell? Everything is black after that.”
“You fainted,” Dinah supplies, smiling at her sympathetically. Addie moans into her shoulder, reaching out with one hand for her mother. Oliver takes the baby and angles her on his chest so she can keep an eye on Felicity, and thankfully Addie stops fussing. “Curtis was screaming about it over comms. I drove you here in your car.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You’re very dehydrated,” Beth informs her. She begins to take out the IV. Now Felicity is conscious, they can switch over to ORS treatment. “I’ve been giving you fluids intravenously for the last fifteen minutes and I’m going to need you to drink a pretty foul tasting liquid in a moment.”
Felicity nods, but still appears dazed and confused. “I’m dehydrated?”
“Yup. How much water have you drunk over the last twenty-four hours?”
Felicity blinks at her owlishly.
Beth sighs. “Okay, how many glasses of water, juice, soda, whatever, have you drank in the last twenty-four hours?”
“Um… does coffee count?”
Oliver closes his eyes and leaves the room, murmuring about taking a walk with Addie around the ER to distract her. Beth knows that he’s actually left because hearing his wife talking about failing to look after her own health, when Oliver is such a health nut at heart, is physically painful for him. William doesn’t follow him however, just inches over so he’s standing next to Dinah.
It’s so hard for the doctor to keep her face schooled in a calm expression when internally she’s fighting the urge to slap some sense into her patient. “No, coffee does not count. When was the last time you drank a proper glass of water?”
“Oliver made lasagne four days ago and I think I had a glass then.”
“And you’ve only drunk coffee since?”
“Coffee has water in it,” Felicity offers weakly.
“Coffee dehydrates you. It’s probably the worst thing you could possibly drink when thirsty.” Beth picks up her clipboard on which she’s been taking notes and starts writing some again. She’s starting to become properly concerned about Felicity’s diet. She knows Oliver has healthy, nutritious food covered, but drinks and fluid intake are another matter entirely. “How many cups of coffee would you say you consume a day?”
Felicity picks at the threads of her hospital-issued blanket, not making eye contact with the doctor as she answers hesitantly, “About four or five. On longer days where I’m up early and then in the bunker all night, maybe six.”
“Double that,” Dinah says from behind Beth. “Eight to twelve cups is more accurate.”
William jerks his head in agreement. “Yeah, she drinks the stuff as if she needs it to survive.”
“Stop making it sound as if I’m caffeine addicted,” Felicity complains. “I’m not. After I had Addie, I’ve been finding myself getting tired more easily. Coffee just provides that little extra energy boost I really need during those long days.”
Beth quirks an eyebrow and tells her flippantly, “Yeah, well, as your doctor, I’m banning you from drinking coffee for the next month. You can drink herbal teas instead. And I want you drinking at least five glasses of water a day.”
Felicity gapes at her, shocked and appalled.
“No coffee?” she repeats.
“Nope. No coffee for four weeks. And I trust Lieutenant Drake and William here will tell the rest of Team Arrow so you can’t sneak any while in the bunker.”
“And I thought you were being mean when you told Oliver we weren’t allowed to have sex for two months.”
William turns bright red and Dinah just chokes out in disbelief, “I’m sorry, what?”
The doctor presses onwards, ignoring Felicity’s sarcastic comment. “I’m going to have to insist you download this app for your cell phone called HydrationTracker, it sends you reminders to drink a glass of water every three hours.”
Wrinkling her nose adorably, Felicity glances away. “I won’t need that. I’ll remember to drink water.”
“Will you though?”
“Yes!”
Beth pinches the bridge of her nose with a deep exhalation of exasperation. “I don’t want you in here due to dehydration again, Felicity. You stress me out enough placing yourself in danger as Overwatch, and especially stress me out when you go out into the field and end up injured. I don’t want to be lying awake in bed every night worrying that you’re going to develop long-term health issues with your kidneys and liver because you’re forgetting to drink.”
Quiet, Felicity gazes intensely at one point on the wall, biting her lip. Beth can tell that she’s finally reached her by utilizing a good old guilt trip. She hates making her patients feel bad, but she’s figured out after experience working with Team Arrow members that fear of letting Beth down really motivates them in self-care.
“Okay, fine,” Felicity mumbles. “I’m sorry for worrying you.” Her eyes skip over to Dinah and William. “All of you.”
“If you’re sorry, you’ll try and make sure nothing like this happens again,” Dinah says. “Right?”
“Right.”
“You promise?” William crosses his arms over his chest.
“Yes, I promise.”
Dinah nods, satisfied. “Good. If you give me your cell phone, I’ll get that app set up for you. And just for good measure, I think I’ll set it up on my own phone too. Match the timings of the reminders. I have the feeling that if you’re knee deep in some coding or hacking, you’ll accidentally ignore the alerts. But you won’t be able to ignore me bugging you about drinking a glass of water.”
As Felicity reluctantly passes over her cell phone, digging it out of her pocket, William hands his over to Dinah as well. “Set the app up on mine as well, please. And when Dad gets back you can do it on his. The more alerts, the better.”
“Gotcha, kid. I’ll be waiting out in reception. I’ll tell Oliver to come back here if I see him.”
“Some of the people waiting in the ER might ask you for autographs and selfies,” Beth warns her as she turns to leave.
Dinah smiles. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I’ll bring your cell phones back when I’ve finished installing the app on each of them. See you later, Will.” She ruffles the teenager’s hair and laughs when he bats her hand away with a groan. “Bye, Felicity.”
“Bye, Dinah. And thank you. For bringing me to hospital.”
“No problem. Dr Schwartz, nice to see you again.”
“You too. Goodbye, Lieutenant.”
“Please, it’s Dinah.”
“Then I insist you call me Beth.”
Dinah exits the hospital room, bending down to scoop up Oliver’s abandoned bow as she leaves. Once the door is shut, Beth checks Felicity over again, noting that her pupil reactions are back to normal now. Ducking out quickly to grab a bottle of ORS, when she returns, Felicity has scooted sideways on the bed so William can lie beside her. It’s a sight that triggers the doctor to grin, seeing the mother and son snuggling together. Measuring out the liquid into a plastic cup, she brings it over to Felicity, motioning for her to sit up straight in bed.
“This is a small amount of oral rehydration solution,” she explains. “It’s basically water with sugar and some salts, like sodium and potassium. You need to drink all of it and I’m sorry, it will taste bad. People usually compare it to acidic sea water.”
“Ew.” Felicity takes the cup, staring at it. “Nasty.”
“What makes it worse is that you have to drink it slowly. You can’t just chug it.”
William sticks one of his fingers into the liquid and pops it into his mouth - and promptly gags. “That’s awful.”
“You’re not the one who has to drink it,” Felicity sticks her tongue out at him.
The blonde downs the liquid six measured gulps over a minute. Beth hands her a normal bottle of water to swill her mouth out with. She’s actually a little impressed Felicity didn’t retch at all. The blonde’s ready to be released now as Beth knows that Oliver will keep her under observation for the next day or so and the rest of the team will keep an eye on her just in case. Felicity will be in safe hands. The doctor’s just putting the plastic cup into the trash when Oliver returns, poking his head in around the door.
“Addie’s with Dinah,” he says, explaining why he’s alone. “And she’s taken my phone to set up some app. I heard somebody has been banned from drinking coffee for a month?”
“Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why don’t you?” Felicity grumbles. “I have to drink five glasses of water a day too, and that’s going to be difficult.”
Sliding onto the bed next to her, Oliver hugs his wife to his side and presses an affectionate kiss to her forehead. “You’ll manage it, hun. It won’t be that bad. Just… please don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t that scary.”
Oliver shoots her an unhappy look. “Felicity, I was terrified. That my wife is being carted to hospital is not something I ever wanted to hear. I nearly passed out myself in the field hearing over comms that you’d fainted in the bunker.”
“It’s not as if I was dying,” she replies. “You can’t die from dehydration… right?”
“You won’t have to worry about dying from dehydration if this happens again,” Beth remarks, cleaning up all the equipment and completing her notes. She raises her head and meets Felicity's gaze head-on, making sure she looks solemn and serious. “Because I will kill you myself.”
There’s a beat of frigid silence.
“You’re frightening sometimes,” William says.
“Good.”