Disclaimer, you know.
"dorothy is something wrong?" Lorretta asked.
"those are my friends up there, I don't mean metaphorically, like they're from Kansas, I mean those are all my actually friends." Dorothy said as the curtain closed.
"what really?" zeb asked looking at her
Dorothy smiled and nodded, a moment later she saw alex walking out from backstage. She immediately ran over to him and embraced him tightly.
"hey kitten." He said.
Dorothy said nothing, she simply hugged him tighter. He returned the embrace, rubbing her back in a circular motion.
"I like the whiskers, very you." He said.
"alex? oh, there you, hello dorothy." Madeline said.
Dorothy looked up and saw Madeline rubbing the makeup from her face with a damp cloth. Finally breaking from the embrace, she walked over to her.
"Did you have something to do with this?" She asked.
"I provided the instruments and the disguises for this performance, otherwise, alex got the idea from Mr. Alistair, that announcer, is actually a friend of his." Madeline said.
Immediately ellie and jack came out. Ellie immediately ran up to dorothy and embraced her in a crushing hug
"so, these are your friends?" zeb asked walking over carrying the stuffed wolf.
"yes." Dorothy said.
"You must be Zebediah." Alex said.
"zeb." Zeb corrected.
"right, well, I'm alex teak, Dorothy's, um, boyfriend." Alex said.
"I'm jack, this is my girlfriend, Madeline, and the one basically suffocating dorothy, is ellie." Jack said.
"charmed, this is Joe and this is Lorretta, they're both friends of mine." Zeb said.
"next band is getting set up, instruments have already been packed away by Morris." Madeline said.
"which one was Morris?" Lorretta asked.
"the one with the glasses, and the odd, outfit, ellie, can I have my breathing privileges back please?" dorothy managed to gasp out.
Ellie immediately released her.
"sorry." She said.
"any questions?" Alex asked.
"many, but none make sense, anyways I think dorothy won this for you." He said passing over the stuffed wolf.
"I wouldn't expect less from my little kitten." Alex said.
"well, I'm going to go get some food, anyone want anything?" Madeline asked.
"I was thinking about getting a loaf of sourdough to try later." Alex said.
"you should try one of the pies." Joe said.
"made by my mother, she puts them in at around this time, they're small but they have a lot of flavor." Lorretta said.
Dorothy smiled and walked back to alex. once again wrapping her arms around him.
"so, how'd you like your surprise?" Alex asked.
"I love you." Was her response.
Alex smiled and sighed. He was glad to have dorothy with him again. and dorothy was happy to have him in her arms again. eventually they made their way back to the table and listened to some more of the music. Zeb eventually decided however, to try and make himself as sick as possible. Ellie went off to go try her luck at some carnival games and Madeline and jack went to ride the Ferris wheel, and joe and Lorretta decided to go off and do their own thing. Morris was sitting at a table not far from them with Jon, eating a loaf of sourdough.
"Is it any good? Sourdough?" alex asked.
"well, I enjoy it." dorothy said.
"I'll be right back, I'll go get myself some." He said getting up.
Dorothy sighed and watched as he walked over to the bread stand. A few moments later however it was announced that her uncle bill had the hayride cart set up. Just then alex came back with a loaf of sourdough and an apple pie with two forks.
"going to do the hayride?" alex asked.
"only if you come along." Dorothy said
Alex smiled and broke a piece from the loaf. Dorothy smiled and watched as he ate it.
"Wow, unique flavor." He said.
"yes, it is, do your parents know you're here?" dorothy asked
"yes." He replied continuing on the loaf.
Dorothy smiled and took a forkful of pie. It was steaming hot, and very delicious.
"Dorothy! Zeb!" came the voice of auntie Melinda.
"Oh, that's auntie Melinda, wonder what she's doing here." Dorothy said.
At that moment, she caught sight of dorothy and ran over to her.
"oh, there you are, where's zeb?" she asked.
"determined to make himself as sick as possible." Dorothy said.
"Well, I'm not surprised, anyways, here's some tickets for the hayride, hello, who are you? I don't believe we've met, though you look familiar" She asked looking at alex.
"Alex teak." Alex replied.
"Ah, that's why, you look like your father, I assume he knows you're here?" Melinda asked.
"Yes." Alex said.
"good, because not only would Dorothy's aunt have my hide, but so would your mother." Melinda said.
"If you wanna talk to Jon, he's over there with our other adult chaperone, Morris." Alex said.
"Jon foreman? Good lord, I haven't seen him in ages." She said walking over to him.
Dorothy giggled and pocketed the tickets. She then took another forkful of pie and sighed.
"so, that's Melinda." Alex said finishing off the small loaf and taking a forkful of pie.
"yep, she can really yell." Dorothy said.
"I've noticed." He said.
Dorothy giggled and for a while they took turns taking a forkful of pie. When the little tray lay empty between them they got up and walked to the east gate where people were climbing off the hayride.
"ah dorothy, I was wondering if you were going to show up, hello, you must be the teaks boy." Bill said.
"yep." Alex said sighing.
"Mels came over and told me you were about." He said.
Dorothy looked at alex who smiled. dorothy then took two of the tickets her aunt gave her and gave them to her uncle before climbing up onto the cart with alex, he was still carrying the large stuffed wolf. Joe and Lorretta were sitting in the back already and weren't surprised to see them.
"so, did you try a pie?" Lorretta asked
"Yes, we shared one, and it was delicious." Dorothy said as she and alex sat down
A moment later zeb dizzily climbed onto the cart, looking a tad green.
"Enjoy yourself?" Joe asked.
"I don't wanna talk, about it." He managed to burp out.
The four of them laughed at this, a moment later jack and Madeline showed up.
"So, you two, enjoying your reunion?" Madeline asked.
"Yes, Maddie, thank you." Dorothy said.
Madeline smiled and sat down next to jack and sighed. Dorothy smiled and leaned her head on Alex's shoulder. Eventually the cart started moving.
"dorothy, I'd been planning this for months, after my uncle let slip that the announcer was his friend." Alex said pulling her close.
Dorothy sighed happily and kissed Alex's cheek causing him to blush. It was a full moon and the light illuminated the town beautifully.
"it's a beautiful night!" uncle bill shouted back at them.
"Yes, yes it is!" dorothy replied.
"Your mother, used to love the full moon, I can't remember how she used to describe it, but she was always quite passionate about it!" he said.
Dorothy sighed and looked at alex. their eyes met and they smiled at each other.
"ugh, could you guys stop going goggle-eyed at each other, I'm already feeling sick." Zeb said.
"in fairness zeb, you're the one who decided to try and make yourself as sick as you could." Joe said.
Zeb groaned and hung over the edge of the cart causing all of them to laugh. When they eventually arrived back at the carnival dorothy and alex climbed down from the cart. they walked by ellie who had managed to win two relatively large stuffed bears.
"you should probably have Jon bring those to the motel." Alex said.
"you guys are staying at a motel?" dorothy asked.
"right across street." Alex said.
Ellie beckoned the two closer and giggled.
"Don't tell anyone, but I was going to send these to my sister while she's still asleep." Ellie whispered.
"That'd be a rude awakening." Alex said.
"yep, Glinda was actually supposed to come as well, but something came up at home." Ellie said.
"I see, well, how is Glinda anyways, I haven't seen her since she showed up with the dentist?" Dorothy asked.
"She's been well, she's worried about you though." Ellie said.
"she's always worried about me." Dorothy said.
"that's true, well anyways, you two have fun, I'm going to go find Jon" Ellie said walking off.
Dorothy and alex looked at each other and smiled.
"Ferris wheel?" dorothy asked
"yep." Alex replied.
And within moments they were both in a little gondola. The Ferris wheel was nearly packed save for two or three of the gondolas. The full moon was now completely out and shining.
"so, how were finals?" Dorothy asked
"they were good, mentally draining, but good, ace did well." Alex said.
Dorothy smiled and took his hand into her own. Leaning in she kissed him as they got to the top of the Ferris wheel. It stopped just there and dorothy sighed and looked up at the full moon.
"alex, I'm glad you guys came, I'm surprised ace didn't come with you actually." Dorothy said.
"your aunt wouldn't let her." Alex said.
"fair, without me there I assume all she does all day is absorb?" Dorothy asked as the ride started up again.
"Like a sponge." alex said.
Dorothy giggled as they reached the bottom. When they got off they both got themselves some cotton candy and dorothy introduced alex to a lot of the people she had met. This went on for about an hour, a little fireworks show had started and both of them had eaten their fill of food auntie Em would not have favored. Eventually Madeline and jack caught up with them, as well as zeb.
"be closing for the night soon, I'm gonna help uncle bill with the cart, if auntie Melinda comes around looking for me let her know." Zeb said.
"Will do, Maddie, jack what have you two been up to?" Dorothy asked
"stuff." Madeline replied with a smile.
"Maddie, you didn't do something stupid, or reckless, did you?" dorothy asked.
"no, we've been wandering and jack has been finding new ways to make himself dizzy and sick." Madeline said.
"Seems to be a pattern." Alex said rolling his eyes
"ah there you all are." Came Jon's voice as he walked over to them.
Dorothy smiled and ran over to him, embracing him.
"ah, dorothy, I was wondering if you were ever going to say hi." He said.
"Jon, I'm sorry about that, it's just, you guys being here, it was so, unexpected." Dorothy said.
"that was the whole point my dear, anyways, it's getting late, where's ellie gotten to?" He asked.
"Last I saw her she was eating a pie and talking to that other couple you introduced us to, where's Morris?" Madeline asked.
"Back to the motel, got tired after eating a couple pies." Jon said
"Of course," Madeline sighed rolling her eyes.
"Hey, don't be mad at him, mads, this is the longest he's ever been outside of oz." Jack said.
"I guess that's fair, I'm pretty beat as well." Madeline said.
"really?" both jack and alex asked in unison.
"Yes, and my feet are killing me as well." Madeline said.
"Well, come on mads, let's go back to the motel." Jack suggested
"All right, dorothy, I'll see you tomorrow." Madeline said.
Dorothy smiled and nodded, as they were walking away ellie, Lorretta, and Joe showed up.
"so, is your friend going to be walking you back to the ranch?" Lorretta asked.
"he doesn't even know where it is." Dorothy said.
"well, you can show him then, anyways, we'd love to stay and chat but joe and I have to help my mom pack up the stand, it was nice meeting your friends though." Lorretta said.
"I'm glad they're here." Dorothy said.
Lorretta smiled and waved as she and joe walked away. It was then that ellie spoke up.
"dorothy, you've been in California for 6 months, and I can't help but notice, you're still incredibly pale." She said.
"you're not the first person to bring that up, and you probably won't be the last." Dorothy said.
"well, Jon, I think it would be in our best interest if we leave the love birds alone." Ellie said.
"I think you may be right, of course." Was all he said.
"Dorothy, we'll see you tomorrow." Ellie said hugging her tightly before walking off.
Jon followed swiftly behind. And soon enough the two were alone. Dorothy turned and looked at alex. their eyes met and they smiled.
"so…" Dorothy said trailing off.
"so?" alex asked.
Dorothy smiled and kissed him on the cheek once again. he blushed and chuckled.
"so, you wanna come to the ranch with me?" dorothy asked.
"sure, but do you think your aunt and uncles will mind?" he asked.
"only one way to find out." Dorothy said offering him her hand.
He smiled and took it tightly. Within a few moments, they were walking towards Hugson ranch.
