Disclaimer, the usual.

Friday morning, dorothy found herself sitting on a pouf in lady Cassandra's house. She would normally be in school, but when she got there Mr. Pryce was out sick and there was no lesson plan. Mr. Alistair had paged her as Cassandra had asked for her specifically. She was now playing cards with Eveline and Tiberius. For a giant eagle Tiberius was surprisingly good at holding cards. They were playing snap, which Dorothy had to teach them. Cassandra, Angela, and Theodora were out on the mountain. For what purpose dorothy was not sure. What she was sure of was that she seemed to have been assigned the task of Babysitter

"Snap." Dorothy said taking the cards from the pile between them, she had

"this game seems to be purely luck." Tiberius said in his raspy voice.

"Sums up most card games." Dorothy said shrugging, beginning to shuffle the deck

"anyways, how are things with you and alex?" Eveline asked curiously.

"Things are going as well as they can, no idea what they've been up to today, haven't had a chance to ask" dorothy said with a sigh.

"Alex is presently in candy county with Marshall Mallow and the china princess." Ozma said, her voice emanating from a mirror, "Unless Madeline has gone and told him, he presently has no idea you're even in oz." She added with a giggle.

"they need his strength for something?" Eveline asked curiously.

"I can only assume so." Ozma said nodding, "he seemed reluctant to go with them though." She added.

"probably because he had hoped to drop in on me." Dorothy said setting the deck of cards on the floor, "I he's at least trying to enjoy himself." She added

"He looked it when I checked on him half an hour ago, haven't been able to find him in it since." Ozma said sounding worried

"he probably entered into one of the protective bubbles Angela and Cassandra set up throughout Oz." Eveline said sighing, "they've been debating taking some of them down."

"When did they start doing that?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"you think the China palace being a safe zone happened on its own?" Cassandra asked as she hobbled in, placing a sack

"of course not." Dorothy said turning to face her

"Anyways." Cassandra went on, "he'll be here later this afternoon, he's just retrieving some special cuttings from candy county for Jinjur." She added.

"Alex knows how to deal with plants?" Eveline asked turning to dorothy.

"yes and no, he knows how to cut them, but the cuttings he has to get are specifically guarded by twisting licorice vines, annoying to anyone at best, inconvenient to the citizens of candy county as they are mostly soft and pliable." Cassandra said.

"And alex and I happen to like licorice." Dorothy said shaking her head, now giggling

"well they would have brought wiser otherwise." Ozma said, "and you know how carried away he gets."

"Oh, I know." Dorothy said still in a fit of giggles.

"you like licorice?" Eveline asked cringing.

At this point Cassandra snapped her fingers and medium sized candy bowl appeared. It flew over to dorothy and opened revealing multicolored sweets that dorothy recognized as licorice allsorts. She knew what these were as her aunt used to love them but after a while had lost her liking.

"Allsort?" Cassandra offered.

"Thank you." Dorothy said nodding and taking a couple.

"So Jinjur really is cultivating those plants then?" Eveline asked curiously.

"Yep, Marshal Mallow said he was impressed with her crop." Ozma said nodding, "which reminds me, Dorothy?" she asked turning her attention to her.

"yes Ozma?" She asked chewing on a piece of licorice.

"Alex and I have been invited over to Jinjur's and Mombi's for tea on Sunday ,alex said he would ask you when he got the chance, but would you care to join us?" she asked curiously, "Jinjur requested you by name, we promised we'd asked."

"Of course, I'll join you guys, it should be interesting considering how Jinjur can be." Dorothy said.

"she's got a temper; you know that as well as I do." Ozma said sighing.

"By the way, what's Maddie up to?" Dorothy asked curiously, "she's usually dropped in on us by now."

"She can't just drop in here." Cassandra said firmly, "Even if she could, she's far too polite to just drop in on us."

"Intimidated." Eveline said trying to disguise it as a cough.

"Eveline, I don't think there's too many people who know Cassandra who isn't mildly intimidated by her." Came Theodora's voice as she came in with Angela

"well she is the most powerful witch in Oz." Came Glinda's voice from the mirror

Everyone turned to look at the mirror at this point, Glinda had joined Ozma and was stooped over, looking into the mirror.

"Well, technically it's a close race between you and her." Theodora said sighing, "and that's only if you factor in people who would accept the title."

"If we're going by technicality then practically speaking, I'm not even a fully qualified witch as neither Locasta nor I ever officially completed our training." Glinda said firmly.

"you know I keep forgetting that who do you suppose would win in a duel between you two?" Angela asked curiously.

"Honestly, I have no clue, I've never actually seen her duel another practitioner." Glinda said shrugging.

"oh right, by the end it was just the four of you wasn't it?" Angela asked coming over to the mirror.

"Tiberius, you've become awfully quiet again." Cassandra said looking at him.

"there isn't much I can contribute to the conversation." He rasped out.

"Glinda!?" came Elphaba's shouting voice, she sounded like she was calling from a distance.

Glinda looked behind her and went to go check what Elphaba wanted. They could still hear the shouting for a bit between the two but dorothy couldn't make anything coherent out. Ozma had her wand out and now had her back to the mirror.

"apparently her father Is contacting her, I can't make much more out, her room has certain protections over it." Ozma said turning back to the mirror.

"I hope nothings wrong." Dorothy said, "He only contacts when there's either an occasion or an emergency." She added worriedly.

They waited for a few minutes in silence, Ozma still keeping her wand raised in front of her.

"Annabella's in trouble, she apparently attacked another student" Glinda said appearing next to Ozma.

Dorothy nearly choked on the allsort she was chewing on.

"What!?" she asked as Eveline thumped her on the back.

To dorothy this was new, Annabella had always been a calm child. Dorothy knew she liked to keep to herself as well.

"I assume its because they were making fun of either her, or her family." Eveline said shaking her head.

"Lady Cassandra, with respect, I think I better go and find out what happened." Dorothy said nervously.

"by all means." Cassandra said nodding, concern crossing her usually serious face.

Dorothy nodded, grabbing her bag. She wished herself back to the school. She found herself outside where Mr. and Mrs. Teak were just approaching the doors.

"I just heard what happened." Dorothy said worriedly, "alex may have been a bad egg but the only time he ever actually hit some one with anything that wasn't a snowball was when he accidentally hit his uncle."

It did not take long for alex to turn up either. the scepter grasped tightly in hand. As they got to the office dorothy took the scepter from him as he walked in ahead of his parents. Dorothy caught a glimpse of some other adults she vaguely recognized. They were the parents of one of Alex's old cronies. The Macduff family did not produce many troublemakers as far as Dorothy's concerns were placed. She knew that Pearce, their son was not an only child but up to now Alex's old gang hadn't really concerned her. Pearce had been one of the least active of the group members, the one that stayed behind a little longer than the others.

"Kitten, you can join us." Alex said poking his head out.

At this point Madeline appeared behind her, without saying a word she took the scepter from dorothy and gestured for her to go in. Mrs. Upland was nursing Annabella and another girl whom dorothy assumed was Pearce's younger sister. She had seen her on numerous occasions at the library she was a regular to her story telling. Both girls had a blackeye, but Annabella seemed to have come off worse with a bloodied nose as well. The girl had brownish red hair and her face was dotted with freckles. She looked smug

"The two wound up in an argument, which culminated in Annabella striking Ms. Macduff here." Mr. Upland said, "She insulted both of you out loud for the entire class to hear." He added gesturing to both Mr. teak and alex.

"I'd rather not repeat it aloud." Mr. Upland said gesturing the adults over.

Neither of them could make out what was being whispered now, Mrs. and Mr. Upland as dorothy had found out, were adept in magic. Dorothy wasn't sure why she found this surprising, but she did. Whatever the girl had said to Annabella, both dorothy and alex knew it was bad. Pearce had come across the room and joined the two of them.

"Alex, I assure you I had nothing to do with this." Pearce said nervously.

"We don't doubt that." Alex said looking at him.

"I don't know where Delilah got the idea from." He continued

"Delilah is what Mr. Upland said, true?" Mrs. Macduff asked sternly but curiously.

"What if it is?" she asked in a high and mighty tone.

"Fighting is grounds for Suspension or in more extreme cases, expulsion." Mr. Alistair said sternly,

"But uncle!" Annabella said, fear coming into her voice.

"Annabella Regina Teak, you will speak when spoken to." Mr. Alistair said sternly, he was practically shouting.

This caused everyone to jump. Mr. Alistair never raised his voice to anyone. When he did it meant things were the most serious.

"Alexander, please calm down." Mrs. Teak said.

"Madison, just because you're my sister does not mean I'm going to show favoritism, even alex never got out of a punishment." Mr. Alistair said still stern as ever, he removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, "however, even he never got into a fist fight."

"I'm not asking you to be lenient alexander, I'm asking you to take a few deep breaths before you say or do something, we all regret." Mrs. teak said going into a defensive tone.

Mr. Alistair stared at his sister for a moment, placing his glasses on his face he took several deep breaths before turning his attention to the children.

"Delilah, I would like you to apologize to Annabella." Mr. Alistair said, "Don't get too excited that's not your punishment."

Delilah turned to Annabella, who met her gaze.

"I'm sorry for what I said about your family." She said, giving Annabella a spiteful look.

"Annabella?" Mr. Alistair said looking at his niece.

"I'm sorry for losing my temper like that and wailing on you." Annabella said shamefaced.

"Everyone has a bad day." Delilah said looking away from Annabella and turning to Alex, Dorothy, and Pearce.

"Says the girl who instigated the fight." Pearce said, "Even we never did anything that bad."

"okay, let's not be too forgiving of ourselves Pearce, we all got pretty darn close." Alex said giving him a sideways glance.

"Yea but it was always directed at…" He trailed off as alex glared at him.

"Me?" Dorothy asked, finishing his sentence for him.

"Yea." Pearce said nervously,

"Pearce, Alex, I want you two to collect your sibling's belongings." Mr. Alistair said getting up and going over to the filing cabinet, "Two days out of school suspension, and a week in school." He said firmly.

"Uncle, with respect that's a bit harsh." Alex said turning away from the door to look at him.

"Alex, whenever you get a free hour or so, read the handbook." Mr. Alistair said firmly, "I've been trying to get some of the old policies repealed, but I should be suspending the both of them for a week for a physical altercation"

Alex rolled his eyes and left the room, however as Mr. Alistair began filling out the paperwork. Both Annabella and Delilah both had looks of worry and horror cross their faces. Mr. Alistair wasn't fooling around, and they knew that.

"Mr. Alistair…" which was as far dorothy got before she was cut off by him.

"Ms. Gale, nothing you can say will change my mind." Mr. Alistair said firmly,

Dorothy took a step back at this point. She had rarely seen Mr. Alistair get serious, usually it was directed towards alex if anything else. This wasn't a joke; it wasn't a game. Annabella and Delilah were in the most trouble they had ever been in. Dorothy hadn't ever seen Annabella look so upset. She wasn't meeting anyone's gaze at this point, neither was Delilah. Alex and Pearce returned shortly before Mr. Alistair finished his paperwork.

"Pearce, Take your sister to the car." Mr. Macduff said firmly.

"Alex, Take Annabella." Mr. Teak said, "dorothy, you'd better go with them." He added nodding to her.

Dorothy nodded back and soon she was out in the hall again with Alex and Annabella. They looked around; the hall was deserted now. Dorothy wished the three of them back to lady Cassandra's house where now Madeline was waiting for them, scepter in hand. She handed it to alex and removed her gloves. It was now that Annabella broke down completely.

"I-I didn't mean to do it, I lost control." She said sobbing.

"Annabella, just as Delilah pointed out, everyone has a bad day." Alex said kneeling down in front of her, "but that doesn't make what you did right."

"She started throwing out insults, about you, about dad, she wanted to start something." Annabella said not meeting her brother's gaze.

"Anna, I don't care if she called us the scum of the universe, they're just words." Alex said, trying to keep his voice sweet and calm for her.

"would some calming tonic be useful?" Lady Angela asked curiously.

Dorothy turned to her and shook her head.

"we can't keep covering up our problems, its never going to accomplish anything." Dorothy said sighing, "Annabella, we've all done things in the heat of the moment that we have immediately regretted, there was one time I slapped alex across the face for risking his life, working alongside the jester for a time, I regretted that shortly after doing it."

"I remember that, and It did turn out to be a trap, a short lived one but a trap nonetheless." Alex said setting Annabella's bag down on the floor.

"Annabella, you aren't the first person to make a mistake like this, we've all lashed out in moments of anger or distress before." Dorothy said smiling sweetly at her, "what matters is that you are able to learn from these mistakes and be a better person for it."

Alex took a handkerchief from one of his pockets and dabbed Annabella's eyes with it. However, as he looked into them, he sighed.

"you're worried, worried that you might wind up a troublemaker like I was, aren't you?" He asked curiously, "Annabella, if it hadn't been for dorothy, and you I probably would still be a troublemaker."

"you both helped him realize that, if he kept on the path he had been, it would have affected you the most." Madeline said sitting down on the floor

Dorothy sighed and turned Annabella to face her, placing a finger under her chin to raise it so they were making eye contact.

"Annabella, you are not a bad person just because you made one mistake." Dorothy said looking her in the eyes

"One, stupid, mistake." She said sniffing.

"Child, one stupid mistake isn't enough, you had a lapse in judgment." Cassandra said hobbling over, "its not the end of the world." She added.

"I mean, we've nearly seen that on multiple occasions, the end of the world is definitely much worse." Angela said.

"Not to divert too much, but how did you avoid confrontations?" Tiberius rasped.

"I should think his hobbies have something to…" Was as far as Madeline got before cutting herself off.

"Mads is right though, yes, Carpentry and dancing allowed me to blow off steam for the most part." Alex said nodding.

"Alex, your parents want to talk to Annabella, can you bring her to the city please?" came Glinda's voice from the mirror behind them.

"we'll be there in a few." Alex sighed, "you want to come along kitten?" he asked turning to dorothy while taking Annabella's hand.

Dorothy looked at alex and Annabella and nodded.

"We shall see you tomorrow at the university, 8 in the morning." Cassandra said firmly.

"We'll be there." Dorothy said smiling, "see you in the morning, and Maddie could you try coming with us for once? I don't think you scaring the daylights out of anyone will help the situation." She added taking Alex's hand.

Maddie giggled but stuck her tongue out at them. Annabella giggled at this gesture, but the worry did not leave her face.

"Annabella, it'll be alright, I promise." Dorothy said trying to sound reassuring.

With that she clicked her heels and they were all on their way back to the city.

Okay, this was a long one, this one was a rare case for me, it started out as a two parter, but I didn't like how it was structured that way. It took a lot of retooling but I got it in the end I think.

Also thank you for that guest review it made me laugh, I might use that somewhere