Disclaimer, you know
That Thursday afternoon Alex awoke at half-passed one, on couch in the living room. He had managed to injure himself falling down the stairs that morning. As he winced in pain as his right arm was now in a sling that he would likely be wearing until at least the following Monday, he took some time to reflect on what had happened, he had never missed a step in his entire life, whether he was dancing or otherwise. He recalled falling backwards down a flight in munchkin land, but otherwise it wasn't something he ever recalled happening. However, this morning seemed to be an exception as somehow, he managed to miss the first step on the stairs, lost his footing, and tumbled down them. Going to the kitchen to grab a glass of water he found that his mother had done some baking at some point as there were a couple batches of cookies cooling on the counter and there was presently something in the oven, which he assumed was that night's dinner. There was already a glass set out on the counter which he filled from the sink. Heading back to the living room he sat back down on the couch and took a sip from his drink when he noticed something he hadn't before. It was a small ornate looking bowl on the coffee table which some crème filled caramel candies that he was rather fond of had been placed in. the bowl appeared to be made from metal and was covered with beautiful painted flowers.
"oh, you're awake, how are you feeling?" came the voice of his mother causing him to jump
"well, you gave me a start, but otherwise, much better than I was this morning." He said taking a breath.
"sorry about that, I see you noticed the bowl, I found it in a box at the back of the cabinet, it was gift from Dorothy's mother, a housewarming gift I think, it's made of silver I believe, but its rather beautiful." She said.
"where'd you get the caramels from?" he asked curiously.
"I went to the store for a bit while you were napping, ran into Barbara, would Eliza be able to join you guys in emerald city this weekend?" she asked.
"I don't see why not, Annabella likes her, and Ozma enjoys the company." Alex said shrugging.
"I'll call them later and let her know." She said.
Alex said nothing, he simply nodded before setting his glass down on the table. His mother left the room and went back to the kitchen. Looking at the clock, he knew that school would be getting out soon, and he was sure that dorothy would be walking Annabella home. this was confirmed about twenty minutes later when Annabella came in followed by dorothy. however, the first thing he noticed when he saw her was that she appeared to be wearing makeup, and this was something he questioned.
"are you wearing makeup?" he asked.
"yes, don't worry it wasn't my idea, Maddie showed up while we were halfway here and had me try some lipstick and blush to see if the color suited me, and I find it difficult to argue with her." Dorothy sighed, "anyways, how'd you manage to take a tumble this morning?" she added.
"honestly, I tried to take a step, and I missed, I'll be out of the sling on Monday most likely." He said slightly raising his arm.
"do you think you'll still be able to come to emerald city with us?" Annabella asked.
"yes Annabella, my arm isn't broken, I just dislocated it, it hurts but that's all that can really be said for it, I've been resting as instructed, I'm sore, and I've mostly been bored." Alex said.
"school wasn't exactly thrilling either brother dear." Annabella said setting her bag down in the hall and heading for the kitchen.
Mr. Teak came through the front door a few minutes later, heading to the kitchen as well.
"he seems busy." Dorothy said.
"he is, he doesn't have any help today." Alex said.
"and that's different from any other day, how?" Annabella asked coming out of the kitchen followed by her father who was now carrying a lunch pail.
"well, I guess it isn't but usually alex is at the shop already, and donna is the one who usually walks you home." dorothy said.
"Except she was out today with a concussion, I'm glad you were able to walk me, I'm honestly frightened of the idea of going alone even though it's a short walk, and the alternative was to either wait for one of our parents to pick me up, or to have my uncle drive me, and seeing as there was a staff meeting today I would have been waiting in his office for, I don't know, and hour and a half minimum, they try to keep the meetings short." Annabella said sighing.
"Dorothy, are you wearing makeup?" Mr. Teak asked as he walked by.
"yes, I'm not particularly fond of it, Maddie showed up when we were halfway here, and asked me to try one some lipstick and blush to see if the color suited me, haven't the foggiest idea why." Dorothy said.
"well, there are washcloths in the kitchen if you'd like to use one to get it off." Mr. teak said before walking out the door.
They stood there for a moment before dorothy turned to alex.
"what's your opinion?" dorothy asked curiously.
"I think you look nice with makeup, but it isn't really you, thinking about it, you aren't really one for wearing it in general, if you want to keep it on, I have no arguments, but I won't force you to keep it." alex said sighing.
"okay, Annabella?" dorothy asked turning to her to get her opinion.
"I'm with my brother on this one, you look nice with it on, but it's not really you." She said.
Dorothy nodded and went to the kitchen where she found Mrs. Teak putting the cookies she had baked earlier on a large platter, she looked at dorothy and sighed.
"wash cloths are in the drawer next to the sink, but I think it looks cute dear." Mrs. Teak said.
"did my mother ever wear makeup?" dorothy asked as she got a cloth from the drawer.
"only at the occasional parties, and usually only just a little lipstick or a little blush, she was mostly against it, she didn't like all the fuss." Mrs. Teak said.
"I see." Dorothy said wetting the cloth in the sink and proceeding to clean off the makeup
"thank you for walking Annabella home by the way, I know she's not really fond of walking alone." Mrs. Teak said.
"it was no trouble Mrs. Teak." Dorothy replied.
"so, do you plan on staying for dinner?" Mrs. Teak asked.
"not sure, I'd have to call my aunt and uncle and ask them if it was okay." Dorothy said.
"well, they know you're here by now id imagine." Annabella said coming into the kitchen and sitting down at the table to start on her homework.
"probably, it doesn't really escape my aunt and uncle's notice when ace comes home without me." Dorothy said.
"unless they were incredibly busy" Annabella said.
"well that's rather obvious, but they're rarely that busy around this time of year and auntie Em is usually watching the triplets." Dorothy said looking at her reflection in the polished countertop.
"oh, they know you're here, they usually run under the assumption that if ace comes home without you following to assume you're staying here for dinner but set your place at the table anyways just in case you turn up, but in other news they are quite busy now, the latch for the gate around the chicken coop broke they won't let me use magic to fix it." Madeline said as she appeared next to her, causing everyone to jump.
"Maddie, you can't keep doing that, eventually you're going to scare someone to death by doing it, anyways do you blame them, I mean, I know you're well versed in magic, but my aunt and uncle aren't incredibly fond of it and neither am I." Dorothy said as she continued cleaning off the makeup.
"I know, but it does solve things a lot easier, I'll admit its unhealthy to consistently use it the way some people do, myself included and I have no shame in admitting that but also Glinda's been having some issues with it today." Madeline said.
"how so?" dorothy asked as alex walked in.
"well, she and Locasta were having another row today, not sure over what, but it ended with Locasta's wand trapped in a bubble, one none of us have been able to break, ellie is there now trying to help Alison come up with a remedy." Madeline said sighing.
"you know, I won't be surprised if one of their arguments ends in a duel between the two of them." Alex said walking over to the sink.
"how you are feeling soldier?" Madeline asked turning to him.
"sore, but otherwise I'm fine." He replied as he refilled his glass
"yea, I'll remedy that tomorrow, oh don't look at me like that, you could do it as well if you really wanted to." Madeline said as dorothy glared at her.
"Maddie, I have many questions relating to that statement but I think they'll have to wait till tomorrow afternoon." Dorothy said sighing.
"I suppose they will, Ozma can't wait for you guys to spend the weekend there, she's really looking forward to having your cousins around and Alex's cousin as well." Madeline said.
"how'd you find out about Eliza?" Alex asked.
"you think my entire day consists of making hats?" Madeline countered.
"do you want us to be honest about that?" Annabella asked causing her to get a glare from her mother.
"I'll take that as a yes." Madeline said.
"Well it is your obsession, you spend more time making hats than I do sketching." Dorothy said.
"everyone needs a hobby." Madeline said.
"and you are the royal hatter if memory serves." Mrs. Teak said checking on the roast in the oven.
"I'm also Dorothy's advisor." Madeline said.
"you know, I keep forgetting that." Alex said
"oh, right, speaking of forgetting dorothy, if you want you can stay here for dinner if you'd like, like I said, but you'll have to get a ride home unless you have the slippers in that satchel of yours and it somehow slipped my mind at some point." Madeline said.
"it did slip your mind, they were glowing this morning so I figured I was gonna be needed somewhere at some point, but what about the chickens, I really should go home and help with that" dorothy said.
Madeline chuckled and produced a small hand mirror. She waved her free hand over it and after a moment she smiled.
"seems your uncle and ace have already taken care of it and your aunt has finished fixing the latch somehow" Madeline said handing the mirror to her
Dorothy looked into it and saw that her aunt was putting the finishing fixes to the latch, it looked like it wouldn't last too long, the night at best, but dorothy was aware that even if she were there, it wouldn't have been much better. She sighed and handed it back to Madeline, at which point it vanished.
"so, should I tell them you're having dinner here? by the smell of things your both having a roast tonight." Madeline said.
"really?" Mrs. Teak asked sounding quite surprised.
"yes, really, I was there when Dorothy's aunt put the roast in the oven, by the smell of things that happened around same time you did, which would be about an hour and a half ago." Madeline said.
Mrs. Teak looked at the egg timer on the stove top and then at her watch, before sitting down in a chair.
"that, that's just about right." Mrs. Teak said
"I figured, anyways, dorothy that's enough scrubbing you got it all off, I'm sorry I had to drop in on you like that earlier, I found the colors at a stall in the city, and thought that we just had to try them." Madeline said.
"and you decided it couldn't wait till at least tomorrow?" Alex asked.
"that just about sums it up, I also found others but I wasn't going to bother dorothy with all of it, otherwise she'd never have made it here, and she'd still be washing it off" Madeline said.
"oh, that's makes me feel so much better." Dorothy said.
"sorry." Madeline said taking out her wand.
"you leaving then?" Alex asked.
"yea, heading to the farmhouse and then back to the city, I have work to do, gotta make a bonnet for the wife of the mayor of Munchkinland, and then I must try and help remedy Glinda and Locasta's issue, but if you need me just send me a thought" Madeline said before flicking her wand and vanishing
"I really wish our class would try and challenge us, it's all been multiple choice recently and its becoming quite irritating, because you can finish it in 15 or 20 minutes if you actually pace yourself and read slowly, one question for each subject." Annabella said.
"oh, did you bring homework for me?" alex asked turning to dorothy.
"no, we didn't get any, we didn't really do anything either, not that I'm complaining." Dorothy said.
"ah." Was all alex could
"well I stand corrected, I'm done." Annabella said putting her homework in her bag.
"alex, you have told, both of your parents the truth about Maddie, correct?" dorothy asked.
"mom knows, dad doesn't, but I think he's slowly working it out, I don't know why, but he hasn't seen through her ability to deceive, mom noticed it right away, when I told her it made sense, but dad is rather slow to pick up on these things." alex replied.
"well, the roast should be done in about another hour or two, why don't you three go back to the living room and enjoy yourselves?" Mrs. Teak asked.
Dorothy and alex shared a glance before nodding and taking Annabella to the living room with them. The roast cooking in the oven was beginning to smell good, and the kitchen was really starting to warm up because of the oven being on.
"can't wait for tomorrow, I love going to oz." Annabella said.
"we know Annabella." Alex said rubbing his shoulder.
"you sure you're going to be all right?" dorothy asked worriedly.
"I'll be fine, and Maddie will try to take care of it whether I want her to or not." Alex said sighing.
"I know, that's why I'm worried, I'm not going to try and stop her either because she'll just say something that'll make me change my mind and that'll be the end of it, but still, your injured, and I really worry about you." Dorothy said sitting down on the couch.
Alex said nothing, he simply smiled and sat down next to her, before kissing her cheek and causing her to blush. None of them could really wait to spend the long weekend in Oz, dorothy would have her cousins to worry about but Annabella loved helping with them, and they always seemed to enjoy her company even though they rarely said a word.
"do either of you have an idea of what you're going to do during any down time you may have?" Annabella asked picking up a stuffed animal that seemed to have been under the coffee table.
"not really." They both replied.
"really?" Annabella asked turning to her brother.
"anna, I'm not always planning things, I sometimes go with the flow." Alex said.
"which is more than I can say I do, I try, but sometimes it's hard to." Dorothy said.
"can't say I don't know how you feel, but it's still good to have at least something planned, even though you'll be keeping an eye on your cousins." Annabella said.
Dorothy sighed, it was going to be the first time the triplets would be in Oz without their parents, though it would only be until Sunday afternoon, so she figured it wouldn't be hard for them to cope. Dorothy remembered sometimes spending long weekends at her aunt and uncles while her parents attended to business, she hated it when she was younger, and she knew her cousins would likely have problems adjusting to it for at least the first few hours. She was glad that she would be amongst friends while she was doing it though, otherwise she wasn't sure if both she and ace could cope with it alone as neither her aunt or her uncle were fond of leaving them alone with her. it wasn't because they didn't trust her, but it was that the triplets got rather restless if both were out of sight for more than five minutes. But she knew she had to be ready for it, and she was glad that she was going to have the support of all her friends.
To all my beautiful followers, thank you for being patient, this chapter took long to write, I wanted to have it out before Christmas but real life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.
