Title:Paint the Mother Pink
Author: tpeej
Author's e-mail:
Disclaimer:The Wizard of Oz belongs to Frank Baum and all of the modifications belong to Sci-Fi. All songs belong to the their rightful owners.
Rating:G
Pairing: Wyatt Cain, Jeb Cain, Princess DG, Consort Ahamo
Warnings: none, just a bit of silliness.
Summary: Oh when you ask someone to do your laundry for you, you might want to make sure that person really does the work, and they don't screw it up.
Thanks:To erinm_4600 for betaing it for me. She is a life saver.
Wyatt Cain, one of the heroes of the eclipse, was a man of honor, truth and the Outer Zonian way of life. He always did what he thought was right; once his mind was made up, that was it. Not much, short of getting run over, would change it, until he met the lost Princess of the OZ.
In a strange way, DG had Cain wrapped around her finger. Cain wasn't sure when it happened, or why, but that girl could make him go from sane to insane in 2.0 seconds.
So, when the Queen asked him to be DG's bodyguard, he said yes. The girl could get into trouble in a matter of seconds. For some reason, Cain had grown a second pair of eyes, in the back of his head, to keep an eye on her, and that helped him many times.
As a baby, Jeb wasn't half as much trouble as DG was as an adult. Some days, after herding DG, Cain thought a bottle of whiskey would be a good idea, but he never tried it because he needed a clear head the next day; that girl could have driven the great Ozma to drink.
Cain's days off were still three days away, and he only had one set of clean clothes left, which he realized once he got up that morning. Before he went downstairs for breakfast, Cain would find his son - it was Jeb's day off – and ask Jeb to take his laundry down and wash it for him. That way, by the time he needed it, the clothes would be dry and he could just pick them up.
Going down to the Palace guard's quarters, Cain pounded on the door. Jeb finally answered the door, standing there in his long underwear. "Dad?" Jeb asked sleepy.
"Oh, Jeb," said Cain, "I thought you would be up by now."
"It's my day off," said the younger Cain. "Why would I want to get up early?"
"Because a man should be up at the rise of the first sun," replied Cain.
"Not on my day off," said Jeb. "What do you want?" Jeb wanted to get back into bed.
"I want you to take my dirty clothes down and wash them for me."
"Fine," said Jeb. "I'll get them when I get up in a couple of hours."
"Fine," Cain replied. "I left the door unlocked. They are lying on the bed."
"Great," said Jeb. He shut the door and went back to sleep.
As Cain walked away, he wondered: 'How can Jeb sleep so late on his day off? There are things he could be doing.' He had to get to breakfast and then get to watching Princess DG; he needed all the energy he could get to keep up with her.
Cain had a nice quiet breakfast before he had to chase down the Princess. It was going to be one of those days.
Jeb went back to bed for several more hours and, when he finally got up, took a quick bath and headed toward his father's room. He wasn't in the mood to do his father's laundry; he wanted to get outside and do something fun. Jeb would take the laundry down to the laundry room and ask the staff to wash it. Letting himself in, Jeb grabbed the clothes and headed down below the castle. When he got down to the laundry, Jeb headed to the head laundress.
"Ma'am," said Jeb. "Could I leave my father's clothes with you to be washed?" Taking off his red bandana, he wiped his face.
"Yes, I would be honored to wash them for you," said the woman. "We'll take them back up to his quarters when they are dry."
"Thanks," said Jeb. He headed out of the laundry and out of the castle. He had a sort-of date planned, with a girl in Central City.
When of the laundress pulled out the clothes out of the washing water, to put them in the rinse water, she found the clothes were all pink. Looking around the room, she looked for the head laundress. The clothes looked like men's clothes, so this wasn't right.
Running across the laundry room, the woman said cautiously: "Ma'am, the clothes you asked me to wash..."
"What is wrong?" asked the head laundress.
"The clothes are all pink," the younger woman said.
"What?" yelled the laundress. "Those clothes belong to Wyatt Cain. He can't have pink clothing!"
"I'm sorry, but they are pink now." The two crossed the room and pulled out the clothes, and the last thing they pulled out was a red bandana. The head laundress moved them into the rinse water and got them ready to hang up to dry. She left the laundry room for the Queen's dressmaker - she couldn't let Wyatt Cain wear pink clothes. When she found out how the red bandana ended up in the wash, she was going to kill someone.
Jeb came back to the castle late. He was in such a good mood, because he had a great day with a girl who made him feel different. It must have been what his father felt for his mother. As Jeb headed back to his quarters, he bumped into his father.
"Jeb," said Cain, "did you finish washing my clothes?"
"I didn't do them," Jeb replied. "I took them down to the royal laundry. They most likely will be in your quarters, tomorrow."
"Jeb, I asked you to do them," Cain said. He couldn't believe that Jeb would give the job off to someone else; he didn't raise the boy to pass off a job. Cain was disappointed in his son.
"Please, father, we aren't on the farm," said Jeb. "The laundry could do it easier then I could, and they didn't have to look for a tub to do it."
"That isn't the point, Jeb," Cain said. "I asked you to do it on your day off."
"We live in the Queen's palace, in Central City, so we don't have to do those chores here." The younger Cain walked away from his father.
Wyatt headed toward the dining room, then stopped and went toward the laundry room, instead. He better go down there and see what he could do to repay the ladies for the work they had done to clean his clothes.
Opening the door, Cain could see everyone on the other side of the room, looking at something. Moving over, Cain was about to touch one of the ladies, to see who he should talk to, when he noticed the clothes hanging on the line. They were his. And they were pink.
"What happened to my clothes?" Cain asked loudly.
Everyone turned and looked at the man and a woman worked her way through the crowd, to Cain. "Captain Cain," said the woman, "I'm Bryce, the head laundress, and we found this bandana in the wash, with your clothes. We are so sorry. I've talked to the Queen, and she will have the dressmaker make you new clothes, since it is our fault."
Cain took the bandana and knew that it was the one Jeb wore around his neck. Looking over at the clothes again, Cain wondered what the hell he was going to do with pink clothes. 'Thank Ozma that Princess DG isn't going to know about any of this.'
"Hey, Mister Cain," said DG as she came into the room, with Glitch and Raw following. "Mother said you had some kind of accident with your clothes. Is there anything we can do for you?" The princess asked it so sweetly.
Cain knew he was in real trouble now. Everyone bowed to DG, which she hated and then she saw the clothes. The princess started to laugh, while Glitch and Raw stared at DG. They weren't sure why it was so funny to the princess.
"Mister Cain," said DG, "Your clothes are pink!"
"Yes," said Cain. "I did notice that."
"It's a perfect shade for you," laughed the princess, again.
Cain kept himself from saying what he really wanted to - it wasn't right to speak to Princess DG like that, with so many people around. "I'm glad you like the shade, Your Highness."
"So, will you take up dancing? I'm sure Glitch would love to teach a step or two!" DG thought, for sure, that Cain was going to reach for his gun and shoot her, so she was ready to run.
Cain wasn't sure what was worse: a dressmaker making clothes for him or that Princess DG was standing there, laughing her backside off.
"Hey, Mister Cain," DG said, "You know that ball is coming up? Maybe we could have a fitting together."
Cain rolled his eyes. He would gladly strangle the princess, but he was sure the Queen would kill him. 'Damn!'
DG ran over, grabbed one of Cain's shirts and headed out the back way into the court around where the clothes were hung to dry. Cain was right after her.
"DG, give that back!" yelled Cain.
"Not a chance. I have to get you a tutu, made to match this color!" DG yelled over her shoulder.
As Cain caught up with DG, her father stepped out of nowhere.
"Mister Cain?" said the consort. "Is there a problem?"
"No, Your Highness," Cain answered.
"I'm glad," Ahamo said. "Now, DG, what do you have there?"
Cain smiled and raised an eyebrow at the princess.
"Oh, I was just looking at Mister Cain's pink shirt," DG said with a smile. "I think it's a lovely color."
"Yes, she said that," Cain said. "She is thinking her new ballgown should be that color."
DG gave Cain the evil eye.
"I agree," said the consort. "It's a lovely color." The consort took the shirt and looked at Cain with a smile. "I'll take it now, to show your mother." He turned and walked away with the shirt.
"Mister Cain," DG said, without moving her lips. "How could you do that to me?"
"You started it," Cain replied with a smile. "Now, you have to live with it."
"I will get you for this!"
"You can try, DG," said Cain as he headed back into the castle.