Disclaimer, the usual

About a week later, after Mr. Griffiths and Cap'n bill had arrived in Kansas, and settled into the house. And trot had found a place for all the dolls her father had brought her, trot had done her best to give every little detail she could about oz.

"Well, that is quite a tale you've spun." Mr. Griffiths said as his wife walked into the room carrying a tray of sandwiches.

"oh, you don't know the half of it dear." Mrs. Griffiths replied.

"what about the bobbins, have they settled in just as nicely?" Mr. Griffiths asked.

"yes, and I'm pretty sure Betsy will tell you the exact same story." Mrs. Griffiths replied.

"Oh? She doesn't seem the type for fairy stories." Cap'n bill said lighting his pipe.

Trot opened her mouth to say something when a knock came on the door. Mrs. Griffiths got up and went to go get it, returning a moment later with Betsy following close behind who was carrying a camera.

"oh, Betsy, what a coincidence, we were just talking about you." Trot said.

"I can only imagine what has been said, dad let me use his camera, have you got the dolls set up in the way you want them? I don't want to be here all day wasting film" Betsy asked.

"might I ask what the camera is for?" Mr. Griffith's asked

"To take a picture of the dolls, for the photo album, I also want to send a photo to dorothy, I'm writing her a letter saying how much she is missed, but it needs, what was the word Aislynn used?" Trot asked turning to her mother.

"Substance, I think is what she said." Mrs. Griffiths replied.

"yea, that, since I couldn't get passed, dorothy, the children at the library really miss you." Trot said.

"yea…needs more, too boring." Betsy said having not actually had the letter dictated to her before.

Without another word the two ran upstairs. The adults chuckling behind them.

At the Teak house, however things weren't as light hearted. Alex was lying on the couch in the living room, completely fried from the obscene amount of testing, it never felt this draining before.

"Alex? brother dear?" Annabella whispered walking into the living room.

"Annabella, leave your brother alone." Mrs. Teak said as her husband walked into the house

Taking a look at his son he walked into the living and placed a hand on his forehead. His skin was warm to the touch.

"Dear, I think he's finally managed to come down with something." Mr. Teak said.

"But, he never gets sick." Annabella said.

"Oh, you're too young to remember, but when you were very very little, a few days after we brought you home, he came down with a terrible case of the flu, he was rather miffed that he had to miss his dance lessons." Mrs. Teak said coming in with a cold compress which she placed on his forehead

Alex was startled by the sudden cold object on his body that he nearly fell off the couch. Had his mother not anticipated this happening, he probably would have.

"I'm fine, I'm just, just drained, that's all." Alex said repressing a cough.

"Honey, would you go get the thermometer?" Mrs. Teak asked turning to her husband.

He immediately walked out and returned with it a moment later. Mrs. Teak smiled and turned back to her son. He sighed and took the thermometer into his mouth and under his tongue while his father to put away his coat.

"Mother, is alex really sick?" Annabella asked.

"we'll find out in a few moments." Mrs. Teak said.

After a few moments, she took the thermometer from Alex's mouth and held it up.

"well?" Alex asked.

"In the middle of 99 and 100, that's a fever, you go up to your room and get some rest, I'll prepare some soup and get you some medicine." She said.

Alex wanted to argue but felt way to drained to do so. He managed to make his way upstairs though where he found Madeline waiting for him.

"You'll be over it in a few days, jack has come down with it as well." She said,

Alex rolled his eyes and plopped down on his bed.

"status on dorothy?" alex asked letting out a cough.

"she's been doing fine since last Friday, hasn't had any memories awaken." Madeline said.

"Well, this means we have to skip a practice this weekend." Alex said coughing again.

"well, we've been working hard, we all deserve a bit of a break." Madeline said as Alex's mother came in with a bottle of medicine, a glass of juice and a table spoon.

"oh, I didn't know you were here." She said walking over to her son.

"I'm where ever I'm needed, and what I needed was to get out of the city, jack came down with the same ailment this morning." Madeline said.

"I see, what do they use for medicine in emerald city?" Mrs. Teak asked pouring some medicine in the spoon and into the glass.

"I don't know what Elena gave him in honesty, apart from some poppy essence to put him to sleep, since, when he's sick, he tries to fake out of it by trying to do as much physical activity as possible." Madeline said.

"Sounds like me." Alex said taking the glass from his mother and downing it in a few gulps.

"Been a while since I've had to give you medicine, not since that terrible case of the flu you had." Mrs. Teak said

"smells like your soup is coming on nicely." Madeline said sniffing the air.

Mrs. Teak smiled and nodded, leaving the room. Alex sighed and shook his head.

"Madeline, would you leave me for a while, and, I don't know, keep Annabella amused for a while or something." Alex said.

Madeline nodded and snapped her fingers. Immediately the curtains drew themselves shut. An in a flash she left the room shutting the door behind her quite quietly. About 20 minutes later Alex's mother came in with a bowl of soup and a large piece of bread on a bed tray. Leaving it without a word.

Meanwhile in the western domain of oz.

"Honey!?" rose called emerging from Lily's room.

"yes dear?" the jester called from the study

"I think the girls have come down with the flu." Rose said.

Immediately he backflipped out of the office. Wand in hand, he sighed.

"Well, what do we do about it?" The jester asked.

"Not every ailment can be cured by magic, but perhaps, some soup will do them some good." Rose said

"Should I ask your mother to get some started?" The jester asked.

"if you could, I should really go clean up my work room." Rose replied.

"I'll get right on it, should I check in on the emerald city later?" he asked.

"I wouldn't bother, if the flu is there, there's nothing we can do about it." She replied.

The jester nodded and started out walking to the parlor hoping that the elder Garrison parents were there. he then decided to do some somersaults and flips to speed his travel. Rose's parents had forbidden him from just vanishing and appearing around the house for fear of scaring the servants. When he got to the parlor, he found Mrs. Garrison, who was working on her embroidery, her husband, who had fallen asleep, and Thomas who was putting more wood in the fireplace.

"Mrs. Garrison?" the jester asked.

"Ah, yes, come in, come in." she said looking up from her work

"Lily and violet have appeared to come down with the flu, Rose asked me to ask if you could get some soup going while she cleans her workroom." The jester said.

"I'll hop to it." she said getting up and leaving the room.

"does rose ever let you touch anything in her work room?" Thomas asked curiously.

"she's, rather selective about things I'm allowed to touch." The jester said.

"she's never even lets the servants touch anything, even Lily and Violet aren't exempt from her rules about that room, she's rather protective of her things." Thomas said.

"you know, I'm surprised the old man hasn't woken up." The jester said turning to the snoring man.

"He could sleep through one of your earthquakes, literally I think the only thing that can wake him up in the middle of the day, is his wife's cooking." Thomas said.

The jester sighed and rolled his eyes before leaving the parlor without a word. In emerald city, however, it seemed everyone but Glinda, Elena, Ozma, wiser, Tin man, Scarecrow, Marshal mallow, and the china princess had caught what was going around.

"Glinda, it appears to be the flu, and everyone seems to be coming down with it, even Brianna." Elena said.

"I've noticed, I wonder if dorothy has gotten sick." Glinda pondered.

"Glinda, your goodness, now isn't the time to worry about that, you still know how to cook right?" Elena asked.

"yep, I assume you want me to make some soup or something?" Glinda asked.

"if it's convenient, I'm not good with cooking." Elena said storming out of the chambers.

Glinda sighed and looked at Ozma who was dozing on the throne, they hadn't looked in on dorothy at all today. Though she also knew that there wasn't anything she could do even if dorothy had fallen ill, seeing as just scooping her up into Oz would cause a tad amount of panic. As she left the chambers and walked to the kitchen, she only hoped that she didn't come down with the flu.

Meanwhile in California

Fortunately, dorothy had not come down with anything. Unfortunately, zeb appeared to have come down with the flu, or something similar. She had been doing the chores on her own while aunt Melinda kept an eye on zeb, uncle bill, and uncle Ned. She was spending the remainder of the afternoon in the coolness of the barn as it had gotten oddly hot that afternoon. Though really, it was only oddly and unusually hot for her, being a Kansas girl and not used to being in a place where it warm just about all the time.

"Dorothy!?" came the voice of her aunt Melinda as she poked her head into the barn.

"Up here." dorothy said looking down from the hayloft.

"oh, there you are, I have to run into town, the boys are asleep, do you think you can handle yourself for what should hopefully be an hour?" Melinda asked

"going to the pharmacist?" Dorothy asked.

"yep." She replied.

"I think I can manage." Dorothy said sighing.

"Well, don't stay out here too long, there are some dark clouds rolling in from the east, I think it's going to be a heck of a storm this evening." Melinda said before leaving the barn.

"Bring an umbrella! It will probably start before you get home!" dorothy shouted.

"Can't a horse get some sleep?" Jim asked.

"sorry Jim, didn't mean to wake you." Dorothy said in a quieter tone.

Jim said nothing, but snorted. Dorothy shook her head and sniffed the air. she could smell the storm brewing on it, it was definitely going to be a big one. She stayed there for about 20 more minutes before deciding to go back inside. As she climbed down from the hayloft and walked out of the barn she looked to the eastern sky and say dense dark clouds rolling in, looming over the town. shutting the barn door, she sighed and walked back to the house. Walking in through the kitchen door she was immediately met by her two pets.

"There's a storm coming." Toto said.

"I know, I can smell it on the air." Dorothy said.

"I can't believe your cousin managed to get the flu when he doesn't even go to the local school." Pockets said.

"well, it can't be helped now." Dorothy said as the phone began ringing.

"you should probably get that." Pockets said.

Dorothy rolled her eyes and walked over to the phone, taking it off the hook.

"Hugson ranch." Dorothy said.

"Oh, dorothy, where's Melinda?" came the voice of her aunt Em.

"Went to the pharmacy, Zeb has managed to get the flu." Dorothy said.

"Oh, what a coincidence, a lot of people in town are coming down with it as well, I just got a call from Alex's mother saying he's fallen ill, even ace is beginning to not feel well." Em said.

"oh dear, well, when person gets it, it seems to go around like gossip, very quickly." Dorothy said.

"Madeline was here earlier as well, said that most of the other in emerald city have come down with the flu as well, the exceptions being herself, Glinda, Ozma, Elena, and a few others." Em said.

"well, just keep an eye on the triplets, make sure they don't get sick, and take care of ace please." Dorothy said as a low rumble of thunder was heard.

"Sounds like a storm is brewing up over there." Em said.

"yes." Dorothy said.

"sweetheart, try your best not to get sick, the flu always goes around rather quickly, like you said, anyways, I have to get back to the triplets, love you, miss you." She said.

"I miss you guys too, maybe you guys can come down for the carnival." Dorothy suggested.

"I don't think that's likely sweetie, the triplets wouldn't be able to stand the train ride, and we can't just use magic without stirring a few questions." Em said.

Dorothy let out a long sigh, she knew her aunt was right about that point.

"Well, auntie Em, I'll talk to you all later." Dorothy said.

"okay sweetie, take care of yourself." Em said.

"I will." Dorothy said hanging up the phone as another rumble of thunder was heard.

Dorothy sighed and sat down at the kitchen table. She found a note on the table with a reminder written in her aunts handwriting reminding her to call the doctor tomorrow to check on her uncles to see if it was safe for them to start therapy. She hoped that her uncles would be at least well enough to get up on their feet soon, though she knew it would still be a while before they could work again, but at least it would be nice to finally see them out of bed. she was broken from thought by a flash of lightning and a loud crack of thunder.

"that sounded close." Toto said.

"Really close." Pockets said having taken a hiding spot under Dorothy's chair.

Dorothy sighed and got up, looking out the window she saw that it was darker outside now. The clouds had rolled in rather fast. Within a moment, it started bucketing down. She really hoped that her aunt had listened and brought an umbrella with her. as another crack of thunder shook the house she decided to move to the living room and lay down on the couch. Both toto and pockets immediately jumped up onto her chest.

"so, any plans for the rest of the day?" Toto asked as the sound of whistling wind was heard.

"not really, chores are done so there isn't really much to do, zeb is sick, and asleep, so I can't really talk to him, auntie Melinda is out at the pharmacy, so unless I want to go through some boxes in the cellar, I really." However, she was cut off by a loud crack of thunder.

"well? Why not?" Toto asked.

"going through boxes of photos is kinda boring, besides, who knows what ill unearth?" dorothy asked them.

"you won't know until you look, what are you afraid of?" Pockets asked.

Suddenly another flash of lightning illuminated the room and a loud crack of thunder caused pocket to jump from Dorothy's chest and hide under the couch.

"Right, she's the one who's afraid." Toto said with an air of sarcasm

"strange place, thunder, I'm surprised you aren't scared." Pockets called.

"in fairness, we were both in a house, inside a tornado, add on top of that all the other things we've been through, it takes a lot to scare either of us." Toto said.

Dorothy, however nullified this point by clapping her hands once. Causing toto to jump and hide under the couch as well.

"you were saying?" Pockets asked.

Dorothy smiled and giggled a bit before sighing. Another loud clap of thunder shook the house again.

"you know, it's all right to talk big, but pride comes before a fall, auntie Em said that once, and you just made a bit of a spectacle of yourself there toto." Dorothy said changing positions so that she could look at them.

"okay, I get the point." Toto said.

A few moments later the phone rang, dorothy immediately ran to the kitchen and picked it up.

"Hugson Ranch." She said.

"oh good, you actually made it inside, dorothy, I'm presently stuck at the pharmacy, the wind brought down a rather large tree branch in front of the door, and the winds are too high for any rescue team to attempt to do something about it." came Melinda's voice.

"All right, well, hopefully the storm will let up soon." Dorothy said as another loud crack of thunder shook the house.

"seems like the storm is only really beginning to pick up, it might be a while." Melinda said.

"well, at the moment, the best thing we can do, is wait." Dorothy said.

"right, well, I've got a line of people behind me for the phone, be careful, don't go outside unless its unavoidable, hopefully the storm lets up soon." She said

"I'll do my best." Dorothy said as there was another loud crack of thunder.

Suddenly there was a deafening bang and the lights went out.

"Terrific." Dorothy said putting the phone back on the hook.