Disclaimer, the usual.

Dorothy woke early the next morning with her arms wrapped around alex. releasing him he turned over and smiled.

"morning." He said with a smile.

"morning." Dorothy replied.

"sleep well?" he asked.

"yes, how long you been up?" dorothy asked.

"about half an hour, you started clinging maybe ten minutes ago," Alex said.

"oh." Dorothy said.

"yea, it's still early yet, I think I heard Hawkeye going up to the watchtower." He said.

"is the house really that quiet?" dorothy asked.

"for now, I imagine Harold will be up soon." Alex said.

A moment later they heard running footsteps.

"or, he'll be up now." Dorothy said.

"yep…should we wait?" alex asked.

"Mom!? Father?!" came Harold's voice echoing through the house

"let's go out, we can help Helen if she needs it." dorothy said.

"wanna get changed?" alex asked pointing to the suitcases.

"sure, can you give me a moment?" dorothy asked.

Alex nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Dorothy smiled and opened the suitcase with her name on it. taking out an orange and a blue jean dress to go over it, she quickly changed her outfit. Grabbing the scepter she smiled and slid the slippers on. She then let alex back into the room and left so that he could change. He emerged from the room about five minutes later wearing black pants and matching shirt with a brown vest over it.

"father!? Mother!?" came Harold's voice from the kitchen.

"alright Harold, hold your horses." Came Helen's voice as she walked out of her room.

"morning ma'am." Dorothy and alex said in unison.

"oh, did Harold wake you?" Helen asked.

"no, we were already awake." Alex said.

"ah, well, alright." She said walking over to them.

"mom, can I help with breakfast?" Harold asked "for the guests?" he added.

A moment later there was the sound of many metal pans hitting the floor was heard. The three of them ran over to the kitchen and found Harold holding a rather large frying pan, and several other pots and pans were sitting on the ground.

"so…how do you like your eggs?" she asked

"I'm not fussy, so whatever everyone else has." Dorothy said.

"ditto." Alex said.

"so, will scrambled do?" Helen asked.

"sure." Dorothy and alex said

"I thought I heard talking, ma'am would you like me to take care of breakfast?" Beatrice asked coming upstairs.

"no, no Beatrice, I'll take care of it, however, have you seen Hawkeye this morning?" Helen asked.

"I think he's already up in the watchtower." Beatrice said

"which way is the watch tower?" dorothy asked.

"third door on the left, up the spiral staircase." Helen said

Dorothy and alex nodded and went up to the door. Going up to the watchtower, they found the watchtower was also the bell tower and found it was rather roomy and well equipped. Hawkeye was sitting in a revolving chair looking through a gold spyglass.

"they up?" Hawkeye asked.

"Helen and Harold are." Alex said.

"and Beatrice" dorothy said.

"breakfast will be ready in an hour or so I imagine, it will be scrambled eggs and toast" Hawkeye said

"well Helen is making scrambled eggs." Alex said.

"it's the only type of eggs she actually knows how to make properly." Hawkeye said shutting the spyglass.

"what's that spyglass for, I thought you had wonderful vision?" dorothy asked.

"I do, this spyglass is magic, given to me by lady Angela." Hawkeye said.

"lady Angela is a friend of ours." Alex said.

"yes, I'm aware, and with the spyglass, I can see farther than I already can." Hawkeye said.

"when did she give it to you?" alex asked.

"about three months ago, I can see as far as the yellow brick road now." Hawkeye said.

"that must be useful." Alex said.

"yes, I can see people coming long before they get close now." Hawkeye said

"Hawkeye?" came Beatrice's voice

"oh, good morning Beatrice." Hawkeye said closing the spyglass and setting it on a little table.

"The mayor is awake now, I imagine that after breakfast he's going to go straight back to the forest and chop down that tree, I think he's going to need our help with it." Beatrice said.

"well, it's not a very large tree, but I imagine you're right." He said.

"wont Harold try to tag along though?" alex asked.

"probably, he always does." Hawkeye said.

"Hawkeye, I do have to ask, why do you come up here when the border is closed?" Beatrice asked.

"huh? Well, mostly habit I guess." Hawkeye said.

"I see, well I should go make sure the breakfast doesn't get burned." Beatrice said heading back downstairs.

Hawkeye sighed and reclined back in his chair.

"dorothy, alex can you two keep a secret?" Hawkeye asked.

"of course," They both said.

"don't tell Beatrice this, but I really like her, a lot." Hawkeye said.

Dorothy and alex nodded. Crossing their hearts and doing a zipping motion over their lips.

"your secret is safe with us." Dorothy said.

"good." Hawkeye said.

Alex then walked over to the railing and looked out. You could see the entirety of the village from the tower. However just being close to the railing made him nervous.

"awfully, um high up, isn't it?" alex asked.

"oh yes, this is the tallest building in the village." Hawkeye said.

"oh, come on alex, don't tell me you're afraid of heights again." dorothy said smiling at him.

"what? No, of course not." Alex said chuckling nervously.

"alex?" dorothy asked sternly giving him a piercing look.

Alex took a step back and found his back against the railing. He sighed, and hung his head.

"dorothy, I've never quite gotten over my fear of heights, I hate it just as much as ellie does, the only thing that keeps me from practically passing out on the emerald city window sills is that facts that they're quite sturdy, there's always someone around to keep one from doing something stupid, and you're almost always there." alex said.

"well, this tower is a bit old and rickety, some munchkin builders are coming next month to fix it up, I've been sitting up on this tower almost every day for I don't even know how long anymore." Hawkeye said.

"not exactly reassuring." Alex said walking back over to dorothy.

"no, it really isn't, but alex, you should try to get over your fear of heights." Dorothy said.

"I know, I know, and given the amount of times I've been up on high heights, and the amount of times I'll have to in the future." Alex said gulping.

"well, why don't you go down stairs and see if Helen needs any help with breakfast?" Hawkeye asked.

"capital suggestion, dorothy, you wanna come or would you like to look at the view?" alex asked.

"I think I'll look at the view a bit, scaredy cat." Dorothy said giggling.

"I'm not a scaredy cat." Alex said sticking his tongue out at her.

"well scaredy wolf doesn't have that ring to it." dorothy said in a sing-song tone.

"well, you got me there dear." He said descending down the stairs.

"are you two always like this when someone isn't trying to kill you?" Hawkeye asked.

"not normally, no." dorothy said walking over to Hawkeye

"it's a beautiful view, don't you agree?" Hawkeye asked motioning out.

Dorothy smiled and looked out. The view of the village was indeed beautiful. You could see the sun beginning to peek over the horizon and it lit up the sky beautifully.

"oh wow." Dorothy said leaning against the railing

However, as she leaned against the railing it wobbled a bit. It bothered her that it wobbled, because that meant it was indeed rather old and rickety. Taking a step back, her foot caught the chair and she would have taken quite a spill had Hawkeye not caught her.

"whoa, easy there." Hawkeye said.

"sorry Hawkeye, I wasn't looking where I was going." Dorothy said.

"it's alright, I've done that a few times myself." Hawkeye said chuckling.

Dorothy let out a nervous chuckle. Her heart was beating at 90 miles a minute.

"I think, I'll join alex downstairs." Dorothy said.

Hawkeye chuckled and nodded. Dorothy sighed and carefully walked down the stairs.

Meanwhile in Glinda's domain.

Glinda hadn't gotten any sleep as she and Locasta offered dress designs to Alyssa. Neither of them were able get a word in other wise.

"no, too fluffy." Alyssa said throwing the paper away.

"Alyssa." Glinda tried to say.

"Terrance." Locasta tried to say

But neither of them batted an eye as she took another design from Glinda.

"not formal enough." She said.

"Alyssa I think Glinda…" but that as far as he got before Alyssa shushed him.

"Terrance, shush, I'm thinking." Alyssa said

"Alyssa, please, either pick something or listen to what I have to say, because, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I would actually like some rest!" Glinda said sternly.

"huh, oh, yes ma'am?" Alyssa enquired.

"I've been trying to say for the last several hours, why not have dorothy design a wedding dress for you, like she did for the china princess for her wedding?" Glinda asked.

"I thought about that, but I didn't want to bother her about it just yet." Alyssa said.

"Alyssa, she's you're maid of honor." Locasta said.

"I know, but it doesn't want to think I'm imposing a burden on her." Alyssa said.

"Alyssa, it wouldn't hurt to just ask her." Locasta said.

"I have to agree with Locasta, dear, we should just ask dorothy, I mean the worst she can say is no." Terrance said.

"true, but we still have to wait a week while she's at the village." Alyssa said.

"how did you hear about that?" Glinda asked curiously.

"oh, just because I seem too busy for everyone else doesn't mean I don't have time for my sister." Alyssa said.

"I see, well if this conflict is finally resolved, I'm going back to my room in emerald city to take a nap." Glinda said

"can I tag along?" Alyssa asked.

"if you want to, there isn't anything particularly interesting going on." Glinda said getting up and offering a hand.

"I'll tag along as well." Terrance said taking Alyssa's hand.

Alyssa took Glinda's hand and in a moment, they were off.

Meanwhile in the city.

"Ozma, do you have any plans for today?" Madeline asked.

"not really, oh, good morning ellie." Ozma said as ellie walked in.

"morning your majesty." Ellie said as she walked over to her.

"has Glinda finished with Alyssa yet?" Madeline asked.

"yes, she's in her room now, taking a nap, she's completely beat, which is unusual even for Glinda." Ellie said

"well, it has been a long week, I mean, consistently chasing us around." Alyssa said as she and Terrance walked in.

"wait a tick, you two knew she was always trying to get your attention?" Madeline asked.

"oh, she's always trying to get our attention, she's my boss to put it lightly." Alyssa said.

"well why weren't you listening to her?" Ozma asked.

"we kinda got, um, what's the term?" Terrance asked.

"Carried away?" ellie asked.

"yea, that." Terrance said.

"hey ellie, you still carry around that little ball of yours?" Alyssa asked.

"I always have one on hand in case I get bored, wanna bounce it around?" she asked taking a little red bouncy ball from her pocket.

"oh, oh, bounce it here!" Ozma said eagerly.

"okay, catch." Ellie said bouncing the ball to Ozma.

Immediately she caught it with one hand between her thumb and her index finger. A moment later both toto and pockets ran in and jumped up on the throne.

"okay you two, I know you want some attention, Alyssa catch." Ozma said bouncing the ball to her before petting the two animals.

"ellie I assume I don't need to give you the run-down of how things went with your sister?" Alyssa asked catching the ball and bouncing it to her.

"nope, but really you should have just asked dorothy on the get go." Ellie said catching it and bouncing it to Terrance.

"we probably should've but Alyssa didn't want to bother dorothy about it, and honestly I didn't want to either." Terrance said catching it and tossing it to Madeline.

"well, I don't do dresses that often, and I won't start now." Madeline said bouncing the ball towards Ozma.

"well I guess that's fair, but what about Terrance?" she asked bouncing the ball to Alyssa.

"what about him?" she asked catching it.

"doesn't he have to get an outfit?" Ozma asked.

"oh, he already has one." Alyssa said tossing the ball to ellie.

"yea, it's a nice tuxedo, he's also got a nice velvet jacket for the reception." Ellie said tossing it to Terrance.

"I got the idea from alex, he'll be wearing his as well." He said tossing it to Madeline.

"which one, and I mean which color? I need to know what jack is going to have to wear." Madeline said.

"the violet one." Terrance said.

"Oh, thanks." Madeline said tossing the ball back to Ozma then vanishing.

Meanwhile back at the village.

After a large breakfast, the mayor, Hawkeye followed by Harold, and Beatrice went out to finish with the tree. Dorothy and alex were left with Helen, who insisted she didn't need any help. This left dorothy with nothing to do, apart from watch alex take the door off its hinges again and double check his measurements and notes.

"why don't you ask Helen if there's any paper you can use to sketch on?" alex asked as He continued to measure the door frame.

"I guess that's an idea, assuming Helen knows where her husband keeps his supplies." Dorothy said.

"well, we can hope." Dorothy said sighing.

Alex looked at her and smiled before take out his reading glasses and putting them on. As he read through his notes one more time, Dorothy sighed once more and got up, walking upstairs she found Helen, sitting next to a window, sketchpad in hand, staring out the window and sketching. Dorothy walked over to her and peered at the pad. It was the start of a beautiful landscape sketch of the scenery outside.

"you like it? it's what I do when I have some free time, which isn't often anymore." Helen said.

"it's beautiful." Dorothy said.

"you think so?" Helen asked.

"coming from another artist, yes I do." Dorothy said.

"you draw?" Helen asked.

"sometimes, yes, I actually came up here to ask if you knew where some paper and a pencil were that I could use." Dorothy said.

"you can use a few pages from my sketchpad if you'd like, my husband doesn't like anyone going in his study when he's not around, worried that his pristine organization will get ruined." Helen said.

"well, how many free pages do you have?" dorothy asked.

"oh, plenty, it's a fresh pad, I brought it from home." She said carefully tearing out a few pieces of paper from the pad.

"thanks." Dorothy replied taking the paper.

"anything for a princess." Helen said.

Meanwhile in Kansas.

"Em, there's a package from your brother." Henry said.

Immediately Em got up from her seat and walked over to henry. Taking the package from him, she went over to the table and opened it. from it she pulled a wooden box and smiled. this was the puzzle box that Dorothy's father and Mr. teak had made for them. It was meant to be used to hold secret messages. Squeezing the box at the top far left and opposite bottom right corner she was able to slide the walls of the box open. Inside were two pieces of paper, one on which was written in cipher, the other of which was a half-finished letter. Within minutes she had the cipher translated.

"well?" Aislynn asked from her chair.

"it reads, Emily, attached with this letter is a half-finished letter by me, wanting to make amends, when your letter arrived coded in our cipher I took to work decoding and wrote this message, next summer, Melinda, Ned, Zeb, and I shall come visit you, there are some things, that are best left said in person, your truly, bill." Em Read.

"well, at least he's on the same page as you." Henry said.

"yes." Was all Em could say before getting up and walking over to the playpen.

"how long has it been since you last saw your brother?" Aislynn asked.

"at the funeral for Dorothy's parents, it was also the last time we spoke, wasn't much, but it established that at the time, we really never wanted to speak to each other, however Melinda, said we should at least tolerate each other for a yearly phone call." Em said.

"oh." Aislynn replied.

"mama?" the triplets enquired.

"yes, my children?" Em asked.

"we're hungry." They said in unison.

"well it is nearly lunch time." Aislynn said.

"yes, it is." Em said looking at her watch.

She sighed and got up. She was beginning to feel a bit hungry herself.

"shall I get the kids in their chairs while you make lunch?" henry asked.

"please henry." Em said heading for the kitchen

Meanwhile, across town however, Betsy and trot were lying on the floor of trot's room. Feeling bored out of their minds.

"any ideas yet?" Betsy asked.

"nope." Trot replied.

"me neither." Betsy said.

They both lay in their place trying to think of something interesting to do. They could play with the dolls, but that had become boring the previous day. For some reason that the girls couldn't comprehend, they were bored, but at the same time they didn't feel like doing a thing.

"Betsy?" trot finally asked

"yes trot?" Betsy replied.

"I think something is wrong with us." Trot said.

"what?" Betsy asked now rather confused.

"well, we're both bored out of our minds, there's plenty of things to do, but at the same time we don't seem to want to do anything." Trot said.

"I think you two have come down with a bad case of the lazys." Mrs. Griffiths said walking in with some sandwiches for the two of them.

"well, in an odd way, I guess that's about right, hopefully we'll be better by tomorrow." Betsy said.

"thanks for the sandwiches mom." Trot said taking the sandwiches from her mother and giving one to Betsy.

"maybe you two could ask Aislynn if she can bring you two to Oz?" Mrs. Griffiths asked.

"no, only Ellie, Madeline, and dorothy have the ability to bring us there." Betsy said sighing.

"Well, you could go swimming in the lake." She suggested.

"maybe tomorrow." Trot said.

"well, if you're not open to suggestions, I'll take my leave, oh and Betsy your mom called, you can stay again tonight." Mrs. Griffiths said walking out of the room.

"well, that's good." Betsy said.

"why's that?" trot asked.

"mom is going to try to make a soufflé again." Betsy said.

"didn't her last one come out as basically a brick?" trot asked taking a bite of her sandwich.

"could've broken a window with it once it had cooled." Betsy said chuckling.

"really?" trot asked.

"yea, instead we threw it out though." Betsy said.

"well, at least Mrs. Gale has been trying to teach her how to cook." Trot said.

"yea, mom can now do soup without managing to ruin it somehow." Betsy said.

"well that's good news." Trot said giggling.

"yep, no more tasteless broths, she taught my mom how to make stock as well." Betsy said.

"oh, mom won't let me try that till I'm older." Trot said.

"trot, you still need a stepstool to use the sink properly." Betsy said.

"fair point." Trot said.

"anyways, maybe your mother will let me teach you one of these days." Betsy said.

"oh, could you?" trot asked anxiously.