Disclaimer, you know by now.
That night, dorothy found herself sat on the bed on hers and Alex's room. She was waiting for alex to emerge from the closet in his night clothes. Annabella had gotten off easy with her parents, they had simply given her a stern lecture. She doubted if this was due to their presence in the palace or if they were going easy on her as this was a first for Annabella. She hoped it was a mix of the two. Her thoughts were broken by alex emerging from the closet, pulling on a black nightshirt. Dorothy looked at the scars along Alex's front and winced. They looked painful but he never seemed to complain about them.
"are they that bad?" Alex asked curiously.
"Are what?" she asked a little jumpy
"the scars." He clarified.
"How did you know I was looking?" dorothy asked curiously.
"your wincing is audible." He said chuckling, this caused dorothy to snort trying to repress a laugh, "where are toto and pockets tonight by the way?" he added looking around
"Wandering I expect." Dorothy said sighing
Alex climbed onto the bed, kissing dorothy on the cheek as he did so. Dorothy giggled and kissed him back. Looking into his eyes, she saw a glimmer of the beast there. But he seemed to be keeping himself at bay. She laid down next to alex, sighing.
"so, it's been a very interesting day today." She said.
"well, more interesting than expected." Alex pointed out.
"so, I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to ask yet, but how did the trip to candy county go?" she asked curiously.
"it went well." Alex said, "got the cuttings Jinjur wanted, and those licorice vines didn't even try to touch me, though they did whip at Marshall Mallow and The China princess."
"and we'll be delivering the cuttings on Sunday, correct?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Yep." Alex said laying down next to her.
Dorothy smiled, scooching herself closer to alex and laying her head on his shoulder. He began stroking her hair which made her purr. As if feeling that it was too calm or quiet in the room the scepter let out a ping causing the two of them to look at it curiously.
"So, tour of the university in the morning." Dorothy said jumping tracks a little
Meanwhile, in the medical wing, Elena was dabbing a yellow paste onto Annabella's black eye with a gloved hand and a cotton ball, she was wincing every now and again. Mr. and Mrs. teak were sat on one of the beds watching,
"A few more applications and you'll be fine Annabella" Elena said firmly,
"I'm going to look like an idiot at the tour tomorrow." Annabella said shamed face.
"I think I might have you beat on that respect." Zeb said coming in with a book under his arm.
"You're actually going?" Mr. teak asked curiously.
"family is rather insistent." He said setting the book down on Elena's desk, "I suppose I'm allowed to change my mind."
"I think Dorothy would prefer it if everyone invited at least made the effort to turn up." Elena said sighing, "you know how much she dislikes when people go out of their way for her."
"Alex being here on a more permanent basis did seem to help her come to that decision quickly though" Zeb said nodding
"well, yea, you know how reluctant she is to leave his side, and vice versa." Mrs. teak said smiling, "they're soulmates, everyone knows it." She added,
"That should do it for tonight Annabella" Elena said backing up from her, placing the jar of paste back on her desk and removing her gloves "if you want you can use one of the beds here so I can apply some more as soon as you get up."
Annabella looked at her parents for a moment, then to Zeb, and then back to Elena. She shook her head,
"even if I did stay here, I'm not sure I could sleep anyways." She said sighing, "I'm too anxious and nervous,"
"and that's completely understandable," Elena said grinning, "tack on the fact that you've had a rough day, I know where you're coming from."
Annabella smiled back weakly before running from the room, Mr. and Mrs. Teak following quickly after her without a word.
"I still can't believe she hit someone." Zeb said looking at the door,
"me neither," Elena nodded in agreement, "she's a sweet little child, but considering everything that we've all been through recently…" she trailed off
"something had to snap with someone?" Zeb asked curiously
"I just didn't think it would be Annabella, I thought it might be us having another row with our mother." Elena said with a weak smile
"She caused quite the stir at the wedding, have you two talked to either of your parents since?" Zeb asked curiously.
"Alyssa has talked to our father, but mom is being rather stalwart, nothing new." Elena said screwing the jar shut and picking up the book Zeb brought in
"Elena, oh Zeb, what brings you here?" Came Alyssa's voice as she came in
"oh, Alyssa, we were just talking about you" Elena said smiling, "Zeb was just returning a book I loaned him." She added holding it up.
"oh." Alyssa said looking at him but immediately returning her attention back to her sister, "Terrance wanted to know if you had any spare doses of calming tonic, and I know Glinda hasn't made any in a while,"
"Calming tonic? I should have some extra bottles, you two nervous about tomorrow?" she asked curiously as she walked over to a cabinet and unlocked it
"very" Alyssa said sighing, "and I don't like admitting it." She added walking over to her sister
"no, you wouldn't." Elena said teasingly as she sorted through some of the smaller bottles
"and you're not?" Zeb asked curiously
"of course, I'm nervous" Elena said taking a bottle out and handing it to her sister, "enough for two doses, I'll have to mix some more when I have a chance." She said shutting the cabinet and locking it again.
"Elena is usually good at keeping her cool, only lashing out once on record." Alison said coming into the room, "Glinda sent me to see if you guys were having any trouble"
"nothing that can't be solved." Elena said sighing, "she's just as nervous as everyone else then?"
"in the usual way" Alison said nodding, "Dorothy and Alex appear to be doing fine, Dorothy was nodding off as I was walking by, they were discussing the plans for the morning,"
"Alex was wide awake as usual I take it?" Alyssa asked,
"does that come as a shock?" Alison asked curiously
"are we allowed to lie?" All three of them asked in unison
"it was a rhetorical question." Alison chuckled, rolling her eyes, "I do have to admit, they look adorable curled up together."
"how did Dorothy sound?" Alyssa asked curiously,
"Surprisingly calm, but considering what went on today." Alison said sighing, "and everything she's had to go through in comparison to us, she's earned the right to be relaxed about it."
"can't say much fairer than that." Elena said walking back over to her desk,
"well, I suppose we should all be getting to bed." Zeb chimed in
"Right, Glinda said Cassandra expects us there for 8 in the morning" Alison said nodding in agreement.
"8 in the morning?" Alyssa asked sounding a tad surprised, and abruptly left the wing without another word
Alison would depart a few moments later, in just as much silence. Zeb and Elena shared a glance for a moment and stood there in an awkward silence for longer than either of them felt comfortable with.
"thank you for returning the book." Elena finally said breaking the silence
"Thank you for lending it." He replied
The two shared a glance, though not meeting each other's eyes.
"well, I should probably be getting to bed, I don't need both of my aunts going off on me in the morning." Zeb said sighing,
"Yeah, your aunt Em can be a rather scary woman sometimes." Elena said nodding in agreement, "we can talk in the morning." She said sounding a little nervous.
Zeb nodded in agreement and left without another word. Elena sighed and removed her glasses, setting them down on the desk she immediately buried her face in her hands. She had begun to grow rather fond of Zeb, ever since she first met him. She knew that he seemed to like her, otherwise he wouldn't go to her for answers as opposed to his aunt, or even Dorothy. she wanted so much to admit her feelings for him, but wasn't even sure how to go about it. It seemed so easy for her sister with Terrance.
"Heck it was simple with Dorothy and Alex, Ace and Scarecrow, and even Ellie and Jude," she mused to herself, "why is it so hard for me to say something?" she asked herself curiously.
She slumped backwards in her chair and let out a groan, looking up at the ceiling. Her gaze turning itself towards the patched-up section. When she realized that she had just told herself a boldfaced lie. She knew Dorothy's and Alex's relationship had not been a simple matter. but they had years between them, and Alex had mellowed out for the most part. Ellie and Jude didn't fully admit their affections towards each other until the wedding, when they served as each other's date. She could say that her sister and brother in law's relationship was simple, she had merely been given the task of finding the captain of Locasta's army and introducing them to Alyssa. Dorothy was in her opinion rightfully given the full credit for bringing them together, as were the circumstances different and the jester not become a threat to all of Oz, they would not have needed Locasta's assistance. She simply served as the one who introduced them. She had always wondered why Glinda had given her that task as opposed to doing it herself, but she knew she would never get a straight answer. She then reflected on something else, Marshall Mallow and the china princess didn't seem to hit it off at first if they were to be believed, but they were still outside of the city so she couldn't ask them.
As her thoughts lingered back to Dorothy for a moment, she came to a resolution.
"I'll have to ask her about love, how she and Alex cope with it." she concluded, "how it starts,"
Unknown to her, as Zeb was heading back towards his own room, he was having similar thoughts, mixed with his nervousness about the following day, he was resolving to ask Alex the same question the first chance he got. Whenever that may be.
