Disclaimer, the usual

Weeks later, after the holidays had ended and school had opened again, repairs having taken place but not yet finished had caused the library to become a quiet learning and tutoring space. And this is where dorothy found herself, working on some math problems with alex from the packet they had been given.

"um, 564? Did you get that for three?" alex asked.

"yes." Dorothy said

"Okay, so, I think that's enough math for the day, the packets not due till the end of next week." Alex said.

"Agreed." Dorothy said placing the papers in her satchel.

Alex smiled and kissed her cheek. a moment later a paper ball hit him in the head. looking around they found Aislynn looking at them from over the book she was reading. Opening it they read it, it went as follows. 'you two, please save the mushy stuff for home.' This got a chuckle out of both of them.

"home?" dorothy asked looking around and noticing everyone chatting

It was then that Mr. Alistair came into the library and walked over to them.

"So, how many people actually think did their assigned packets?" Mr. Alistair asked.

"not counting us?" Alex asked.

"or Aislynn, or Ms. Bobbin, or Ms. Griffiths." He said.

"well I heard all the teachers were betting that no more than half the students got half of it done." Alex said.

"I heard the same." Dorothy said.

"and who, pray tell, did you hear that from?" Mr. Alistair asked.

"we, um, may have been walking passed the teacher's lounge on Monday and over heard some things we shouldn't have." Alex said.

"well, I'm not surprised at you for that alex, but dorothy, I'm shocked." Mr. Alistair said.

"hey, don't look at me, I was following him." Dorothy said.

"yea." Alex said smiling.

"alex, don't go falling back into your old habits." Mr. Alistair said.

"I'm not uncle, but you know I can't resist listening in, Liza has the same problem." Alex said,

"I thought she told you not to call her that?" Mr. Alistair asked.

"uncle, seriously?" alex asked.

"yes, can't you respect what she asks of you?" He asked.

"ugh, you're worse than mom." Alex said.

"anyways, dorothy, you and ace are dismissed, alex, I guess you can go too." Mr. Alistair said.

"but it's only just passed lunch." Dorothy said.

"yes, and I've allowed you three to leave." Mr. Alistair said

They both sighed and got up. Alex helped dorothy into her jacket and then walked over to Aislynn who closed her book and got up. As they left the school they headed to Dorothy's house. When they got there, they found her aunt on the phone.

"no, I can't come over, California is far and I have my kids to take care of." Em said.

"Auntie Em?" dorothy asked.

"Dorothy shush, oh, yes Frank and Madeline's daughter, no she's perfectly fine, is there a reason you have to ask me this every time you call William?" Em asked.

"Em are you still on the phone with your brother?" henry asked from the living room with a yawn

"yes" em said.

"Explains why I'm only hearing of him now." Dorothy said.

"wait, are you talking about bill Hugson?" alex asked causing dorothy to give him an odd look.

"Who?" dorothy asked.

"yes, bill can you please hold on a second? Okay, dorothy, bill is two years older than I am, he lives with my cousin Ned at Hugson ranch in California, they together along with bill's wife Melinda raise Ned's son Zebadiah, both Bill and Ned were injured during an accident and they need someone to help on the ranch." Em said.

Dorothy was now more confused than she was a few seconds before. Her aunt then picked up a stack of photographs from the table by the phone and handed them to dorothy. Looking through them dorothy saw a young version of her aunt playing with a dark-haired boy. He was about a head taller than her and had on not a happy smiling face, but a mischievous grin.

"Em doesn't like talking about him, since they never really saw eye to eye." Henry said walking over.

"what, no, I can't send dorothy to California to help Zeb on the ranch…can I?" Em asked.

"what about her education?" henry asked taking the phone from his wife and talking into it.

"and what about me?" alex asked receiving a slap as a result.

"a tutor?" henry asked.

"Ned got Zeb a tutor for the year since he's being homeschooled right now, that's why they can't afford farm hands." Em said.

"Em, it's family, I know we shouldn't say no to them, but…" Henry said handing the phone back to his wife.

"Henry one sec, yes, uh-huh, no I wouldn't, ugh, not they wouldn't, what, well, I guess they would, one sec, dorothy, he wants to talk to you." Em said handing her to the phone.

Dorothy took it and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" dorothy asked.

"Ma…no dorothy, wow you sound like your mother." Came a low pitched, gruff sounding voice.

"Yes, I get that a lot." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, please, can you do this favor for some distant relatives, come over and help Zeb run the ranch?" bill asked.

"can I talk to cousin Zeb?" dorothy asked.

"Certainly, here he is." He said as the sound of the phone being passed was heard.

"Howdy." Came a fluty sounding voice.

"Zeb?" dorothy asked.

"Well Zebediah, but call me Zeb." He replied now in a lower pitch.

"are your father and your uncle desperate?" Dorothy asked.

"They made a deal with your aunt never to call more than once a year unless it was a dire emergency." Zeb said

"well neither my aunt or uncle can leave their children, all I have is a dog and cat to worry about, um, how long do you expect?" Dorothy asked.

"doctor said they could start walking again after three months, 3 months after try heavy lifting, so six months at most, or maybe least." He said.

"six months?" alex whispered resulting in another slap.

"okay, six months, can I bring my pets with me?" dorothy asked.

"we'll do anything to get at least one of you to come I have some of my own money saved up if you need a train ticket for the express." He replied.

"no, no its alright, I can buy a ticket myself." Dorothy said.

"Dorothy, you're going?" alex asked.

"yes of course I'm going, its family, and it's an emergency." Dorothy said.

"well, I'll tell my uncle that you're coming then, can you hand the phone back to your aunt?" he asked.

"Sure." She said handing it back to Em.

Alex then took Dorothy's hand and dragged her to her bedroom shutting the door behind them.

"Dorothy, are you nuts? California is an awful long way from Kansas, and this is family you never even met." Alex said.

"Alex, it's still family." Dorothy said.

"actually, wait a minute, no, no the part that surprises me most is that you aren't extremely miffed that your aunt kept her brother a secret from you, the only reason I had any idea who he was, was because my mom and aunt were talking and it came up." Alex said.

"Well that answers that question, and no, I'm completely miffed, just repressing it for now." Dorothy replied

Alex shook his head and sat down on her bed. grabbing the scepter from the bedside he stared into the orb.

"Dorothy, after what happened to me when I went to help my family, I don't want anything to happen to you." Alex said.

Dorothy sighed and sat next to him. Taking his hand in her own she then hugged him tightly.

"I never leave anyone in the lurch, my parents would go, I know they would, and this is what they would want me to do, just think of it as another adventure for me." Dorothy said.

Alex sighed and held her against him tightly. However, a moment later a knock came on the door.

"Dorothy? I called the station, the next express to California is on Monday, I've ordered your ticket, I'll get the money from your account." Came her aunts voice.

Alex sighed and released dorothy. Monday wasn't far away, which meant they didn't have much time before they would be separated again.