Disclaimer, you know.

Early the next morning dorothy awoke to find the room empty, the door open, and a note that had been written on what looked like a loose scrap of paper. Picking it up and blinking a few times for her vision to readjust to the light she read it aloud to herself.

"went downstairs, didn't want to wake you, love alex." she read with a smile.

Stretching, she closed the bedroom door, changing into her usual outfit, she then quietly slipped out of the room and down stairs. Immediately she could smell bacon frying and new that auntie Melinda was already awake. As she got closer to the kitchen however she could hear alex talking to her aunt.

"you know, your father, sometimes we wondered if he ever slept." Melinda said.

"Oh? Really?" Alex asked sounding intrigued.

"Oh yes, you see, your father's bedroom light was always on, and it seemed there was always movement to be seen up there, not even Dorothy's father or uncle ever found out why or how." Melinda said.

"odd." Alex said.

"I always thought so, how do you like your bacon?" Melinda asked.

"No preferences really." Alex said.

The next moment she heard more bacon sizzling in the pan and her aunt humming to herself. she then heard pockets meow.

"dorothy isn't really fussy about her food either." Melinda said.

"I know, and I'd like to thank you for letting me spend the night." Alex said.

"it was no trouble." Melinda said.

At that moment dorothy heard the floorboards behind her creek. Turning around she saw zeb. She motioned for him to stay quiet.

"what about my late grandfather?" alex asked

"that old gargoyle? What's there to say that your parents probably haven't already said, he never smiled, don't think he ever laughed, shouted a lot, didn't think too highly of your father on several occasions, all he really seemed to care about was that the work got done and making sure your father got raised what he called, 'the right way'." Melinda said.

"sounds like my father…though, at least my father was able to see that he was starting to act like his father, while pushing me away." Alex said.

"And how long did that take?" Melinda asked.

"dorothy coming into my life on a full-time basis." Alex said.

"Dorothy's late mother, bless her soul, always tried to keep your father looking on the bright side, however, it was your mother that always calmed him down, and frank, Dorothy's father, always able to make our group laugh, Frank and Madeline, were sort of the unofficial leaders of our little group." Melinda said.

"really?" alex asked.

"oh yes, though really we all took turns being in charge, I hated it, on days where I was in charge we would under that old tree in the middle of the park and make idle conversation, none of us ever really argued about what we wanted to do because somehow we would always manage to find a way to make some fun out of it." Melinda said.

"wait, tree in the middle of the park, not that old gnarled one?" alex asked.

"that very tree, stood through many a Kansas twister, is it still standing?" Melinda asked.

"yes, we actually use it as a hangout spot when we find the benches too uncomfortable." Alex said.

"you know, last time I was in Kansas, it was only for funeral, didn't go to the old park, but are those tacky green benches still there?" she asked.

"well, they're not really green any more, but yea, they're still there, let me guess, my grandfather made them?" alex asked.

"yes." Melinda said.

"you know, can I just say this, dorothy knows it's not nice to eavesdrop, I'm assuming zeb knows that as well." Alex said.

Dorothy sighed and walked into the kitchen.

"how did you know?" Dorothy asked.

"toto was giving me a funny look, that same look he gives when I'm standing outside your room waiting for you to notice that I'm there, I kinda put two and two together." Alex said.

"well, I, err…why do you always have to be so clever?" dorothy asked walking over and kissing his cheek.

"I'm still curious as to how you knew I was there?" Zeb asked walking in.

"juggling the obvious." Alex said as Melinda brought over a plate of bacon

"dorothy?" Zeb asked.

"yes?" dorothy replied.

"why does he have to have clever answers?" Zeb asked.

"because he's like his father." Melinda said.

"you know, auntie Melinda, one day all of you need to come to Kansas, have a little reunion, I want to hear the story about the day you all met and decided to form a group, I know some of you were rather young at the time but I know you all remember really far back." Dorothy said taking a piece of bacon and giving it to toto.

"you know, that isn't a bad idea, it's been a while since all of us were together." Melinda said.

"I bet uncle bill would find it a nice change of scenery, but how soon could we get it planned?" dorothy asked.

"oh, I don't know but it wouldn't be this year, your uncles aren't fit to travel yet." Melinda said.

"hmm." Zeb said looking as though he was thinking rather hard about something.

"Zeb, I know that tone, you're thinking about something." Melinda said.

"huh? Oh, yes, I was thinking, perhaps we could go to Kansas next summer." Zeb suggested.

"I'd have to take Zeb's side on this one, but the one person we know who is qualified to take a stance is Jon Foreman." Alex said.

"I'd have to side with alex there, I mean, Jon is a doctor, albeit, retired, but he's still a good doctor." Dorothy said.

"good thinking, will he be coming over today?" Melinda asked.

"I imagine so." Alex said.

Meanwhile in Kansas.

"Mama? Mommy? Mom!?" came the voices of the gale triplets.

"yes, my children?" Em asked looking up from the book she was reading.

"How much longer?" Alicia asked.

"after today, just three more days, and dorothy will be home, I can't wait either." She said.

"Em?" Henry asked walking into the room.

"Oh, henry, did you find it?" Em asked.

"your brother's old cipher?" henry asked.

"yes!" Em said.

"no but I found a piece of paper with random letters and numbers on it." Henry said handing it to her.

"henry!" Em sighed.

"Em, I'm surprised you even kept this, I'm not surprised at where it was though." Henry said.

"Where was it?" Emily asked.

"third drawer down on that old desk you're keeping the radio on, but why do you want to write your brother a coded message?" Henry asked.

"it will be a little less than a year before he's fit to travel, if I'm right he never taught Zeb the cipher, but, I want to make amends with my brother, these last 6 months have given me time to reflect back, I mean, we all hung out in our youths, though my brother and I had a relationship that contained mostly of fighting." Em said.

"yet you guys got along well enough to make a cipher, which reminds me, why send a coded message?" henry asked.

"I want him to know that I do actually care." Emily said getting out of bed and getting a piece of paper and a pen from her side table.

"What's a cipher?" Robert asked.

"it's a way of sending messages only certain people can understand." Em replied looking at her kids.

"oh." The three of them said in unison.

Meanwhile in emerald city.

"I'm glad dorothy will be home in few more days." Ozma said.

"me too." The china princess said.

"by the way, did Glinda say when she was going to be back?" Ellie asked.

"no, but I'm too intimidated by Glinda to ask too many questions, don't tell her I said that." The china princess said.

Ozma couldn't help but giggle at that, though she herself was slightly intimidated by the sorceress. Though she was the closest thing she actually had to a proper parent figure at the present time.

"hey aren't you going to visit pumpkinhead today?" the china princess asked.

"yep, scarecrow is escorting me." Ozma said.

"Your majesty, the sawhorse is ready." Scarecrow said walking in.

"thank you, scarecrow." Ozma said getting up from her throne and walking over to him.

Meanwhile at Glinda's castle.

"I knew I shouldn't have left that orb unattended." Glinda said.

"that's what, the 500th time you've said that?" the servant girl named chuck asked.

"Well, it set off a chain reaction and magical storm in my castle, we can't use magic to clean the damage or it could cause more trouble." Glinda said.

"and you sent most of the other servants home, for their 'safety' and you're still trying to get me to leave." Chuck replied.

"You refuse to leave the precious quoxwood tree, which I guess is fair." Glinda said.

"Well that magical rain made it flourish, I told you that's what it needed, it's a magical tree, by the way, why did you keep an orb with a magical storm in it? more importantly why didn't it have a stand to be on?" Chuck asked.

"honestly, I didn't think that someone would finally come into my room and dust the shelves, normally I don't leave my room unlocked." Glinda said.

"well, luckily no one was harmed." Chuck said.

"tell me about it, anyways, if you must know, I kept the orb so that I could water the quoxwood tree myself, as a surprise for you." Glinda said.

"oh." Chuck said becoming red in the face.

"Don't blush, you were right, it did need some magical rain, but when the spell mixed with a few of the harmless potions I keep around it spread over the whole castle I imagine, luckily the books in this castle are all protected by a water proofing spell." Glinda said.

Chuck opened her mouth to say something when suddenly the castle began cleaning itself, the mess of water everywhere and the papers and various objects that had been blown around and upset by the storm had begun reorganizing itself. Glinda and chuck looked around and eventually found the jester balancing on a rather thin ledge.

"isolated magical storm, you didn't think I was just going to sit around and watch you in a crystal ball now did you?" The jester asked.

"you know, it's very risky, doing that with magic." Glinda said.

"yes, I know, but I've had my share of accidents to know what spells are best for these situations." The jester said.

Glinda grumbled and vanished the mop she was using and then glared at the jester.

"Ozma's gone to visit her creation by the way, just thought you'd like to know that." He said before vanishing.

"you know, I know he's on our side, but he still gives me the creeps." Chuck said.

Glinda sighed and shut her eyes tight. Ellie was with dorothy and the others.

"come on then, I guess we can go to candy county and get some of Dorothy's favorites for when she gets back" Glinda said

"yes ma'am." Chuck said.

Meanwhile back in California

As the day wore on, Ellie, Madeline and Jack eventually arrived accompanied by Jon and Morris. While the adults chatted inside about various things, they went out to the barn and made idle conversation.

"you know, it's funny to think that come tomorrow it'll just be me working on the ranch." Zeb said.

"well, uncle bill and uncle ned are finally clear to do light work, I'm sure you'll be fine on your own." Dorothy said.

"I know I'll be fine, but I'm just so used to having you around, and you only just met me for the first time 6 months ago." Zeb said.

"yep, before then I didn't even know you existed." Dorothy said.

"well, I imagine you managed to have some fun." Madeline said

"oh, yes, and it's nice having someone else to talk to in my age group, I mean, don't get me wrong, Joe and Lorretta are nice, but a lot of the times, they're just as busy with work as I am." Zeb said.

"so, dorothy, you still know where your train ticket is?" ellie asked.

"in the shoebox, with my pea shooter and the slippers." Dorothy said.

"pea shooter?" Zeb asked.

"oh, right, alex made it for me a few years back, sometimes we set up a few tin cans on the fence outside the farmhouse and see who can hit the most." Dorothy said.

"ah, dad and uncle bill won't let me make one." Zeb said.

"given your track record, do you blame them?" dorothy asked

"Not really." Zeb said.

"you know, I'm going to miss you too zeb, I mean before my aunt had my cousins, I was under the impression that I had basically no other living kin." Dorothy said.

"I always knew you existed, I just never thought I'd end up meeting you in my lifetime given how distant Uncle Bill and his sister are." Zeb said.

"and I've only heard about your uncle bill in passing, mom always mentioned him but never went into much detail." Alex said.

"and ellie, Madeline, and I are the boat of not knowing much about this in general." Jack said.

"well, maybe next summer you'll be able to come over, or maybe you can stay a few weeks during the winter." Dorothy suggested.

"We can only hope." Zeb said.

"So, alex, wanna help me pack up the radio this evening?" dorothy asked.

"sure, you know, I honestly didn't think through how we were going to get it back to Kansas." Alex said

"Of course, you didn't." Dorothy said shaking her head.

"well do you still have the box I sent it to you in?" Alex asked.

"yes, under the table that the radio is on, didn't you notice?" Dorothy asked.

"I wasn't looking." Alex said.

"you know what, you two, don't worry about the radio, I'll take care of it later." Madeline said.

"you sure Maddie?" dorothy asked.

"yes, you know I can handle it." Madeline said.

"all right, but make sure it gets put away, I know you have some particularly large suitcases." Dorothy said.

"hey, if I didn't have the large suitcases I wouldn't be able to carry all my hats." Madeline said.

"obsession?" Zeb asked.

"sort of, its rather hard to explain." Madeline said.

"I see, I'll ask no more." Zeb said.

And this was basically how it went late into the evening. When the sun began to set, Melinda had put together a large dinner for everyone. After they had all finished dorothy went upstairs to pack. Alex following swiftly behind, the radio had already been squared away by Madeline, so all dorothy had to do was set out her outfit for the morning and pack everything else. Which she did with alex's help.