Disclaimer, the usual.


Tuesday, Ozma found herself seated on Alex's workbench at the carpenter's shop. staring out the window proved boring as there wasn't really anything outside the shop to look at today. The rain that had started the previous morning still had not let up. As a result, she spent most of her time watching, and helping Mr. teak and alex with their project. This had gone from rather early in the morning, to now where it was almost noon. They had worked with rather decent efficiency, which Ozma was rather pleased with. She didn't really enjoy just watching for the most part though she did find it intriguing.

"Shame dorothy has to be in school today" Ozma said after a while.

"Look at the bright side though, after this week, she'll have an abundance of free time" Mr. Teak said "we were never quite so lucky" he added.

"In fairness. You didn't need the school renovated either" Alex said going over to his bench and opening a small compartment on it, grabbing a few caramel crème candies from it and handing a few to Ozma.

"Thank you." She said unwrapping one and popping it into her mouth.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to root out all your little hiding places for those" his father said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No, you won't." Alex said unwrapping one and popping it into his mouth.

"he's probably right on that" Madeline said appearing in the room, causing them all to jump.

She looked rather disheveled, to alex and Ozma this said that this was how dorothy probably was at the moment. She seemed rather exhausted as well, they knew dorothy and the others were presently doing review stuff for the tests the next day. Madeline let out a yawn, which quickly spread around the room.

"That bad?" Alex asked stretching.

"I'm having problems keeping awake, truth be told, that never happens" she says.

"Dorothy didn't sleep well last night" Alex sighed, "rather fitfully actually, anxiety can do that unfortunately." He added.

"Oh, I know." Madeline said yawning loud.

This once more spread around the room, even the scepter let out a long, bored sounding ping. Alex let out a long sigh.

"So, what brings you here Mads?" he asked tossing her a caramel.

"Just trying to stave off the boredom, couldn't even concentrate on making a hat." She replied with a sigh.

"Okay, it really is that bad" Alex said looking up at the ceiling.

"exactly" she said removing her hat and producing a cup of tea from it.

Mr. Teak opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. Looking around for a moment, they all found it was the upstairs phone. He went up to go and answer it. this made alex a little curious.

"Okay, has to be a family member, or someone really close to the family" he says popping another caramel in his mouth.

"Why is that?" Ozma asked curiously.

"Because, that phone is on a different number than that one" he says pointing to the phone next to his father's desk. "Which most likely means its aunt Barbara."

"Which usually means Eliza is concerned somewhere" Madeline says with a grin.

"Oh yes, my Favorite cousin." He said with a sarcastic chuckle.

"You know, I know Dorothy's been meaning to ask, why is there such a bizarre rift between you two?" Madeline asked curiously.

"I think a few of us would like to know that" Ozma said "you're both capable of getting along, we've seen that, but there's so much tension between you two."

"So much so you could cut it with a knife, or I suppose in Alex's case, his sword" Madeline chimed in.

Alex rolled his eyes and looked over to a small mirror on the wall.

"it's a bit of a long story to go into what REALLY, but the short version basically adds up to the same thing that happened between Dorothy's uncle and her father." Both he and the beast said

"a stupid argument that got out of hand?" they both asked.

He nodded "something like that" he sighed.

"So, you two had a bit of an argument, something led to another, and it's led to this uneasy rivalry between you two?" Madeline asked.

"that's basically the gist." Alex nodded, "in no particular detail."

"Well, that was Aunt Barbara." Mr. Teak said coming downstairs.

"And how long will Eliza be staying with us?" was Alex's immediate response.

"Okay, you're getting good on picking up on that, but that's not all they wanted."

"Okay, they need our help with something, again. Need I remind you what happened last time?" he said taking out his watch.

"Less outside work this time, besides, it's now a little late in the year for thunderstorms."

Alex rolled his eyes, "it was a little late in the year for them last time too." He said checking it.

Madeline took hers out as well and held it next to his, still read the same time. He nodded and then pocketed it.

"Anyways, that was Donna's parents we were helping last time" Mr. teak added, "they do need our help with things at the house." He said.

"Well, that'll be interesting" Madeline said sipping her cup of tea rather loudly.

"Oh, definitely, because we will have to tell dorothy, if only so she doesn't click her heels wishing to get to us, and find herself in her old home" alex says sighing,

"hadn't thought about that." Mr. Teak said sighing, "there's just one issue."

"No way of telling her that, in a light way." Alex said, "when do they need us?" he asked curiously.

"Tomorrow afternoon if at all possible" Mr. teak said.

"Okay, so, mostly telling her, so she doesn't click her heels and end up in her old living room" Madeline chimed in

"Why tomorrow afternoon?" Ozma asked curiously.

"they're not in town at the moment, or rather, their town." Mr. teak said sighing.

The office phone started ringing again at this point, Mr. teak ran to pick it up.

"it's for you!" he calls.

"Eliza" alex sighed rolling his eyes "come on you two, you may as well hear this too." He says walking to the office.

Taking the phone from his father, he held it close to his ear, Madeline positioned Ozma and herself so they could hear it as well.

"Liza?" alex asked.

"Oh good, you're awake" Eliza said sarcastically.

"Did you call here to heckle?" Alex asked rolling his eyes, "or did you actually have something productive to add to what dad told me?"

"Little bit of column A little bit of column B." Eliza said, "are you going to tell dorothy that we need you and your father for something tomorrow afternoon?"

"Mads, Ozma, and myself were just discussing…" was as far as alex got before he was cut off by Eliza.

"Is Ozma there with you?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, she's presently taking a vacation" alex said, "Staying with the gales, its genuinely one of the only reasons I'm actually here."

The phone stayed silent for a moment.

"Huh, interesting" Eliza eventually said.

"I suppose so" Alex said "Anyways, yes, it's kinda been established that we have to tell her" he said.

"Yes, I heard there's some standardized testing going on" she said "So, you're actually going to tell her?"

"I don't want there to be any risk of her clicking her heels and ending up suffering from the memories" alex said.

"Despite the fact we will have to get her here at some point?" Eliza asked curiously.

"Liza, I know we'll have to get her there at some point, but I really don't think this week is good for that" he said, "if only because she definitely wont be in the mood before, or even once the weeks out."

The sound of eyes rolling was practically audible in Eliza's response.

"Monday then? Or will you be back in emerald city?" she asked sighing

"Eliza, you must really want dorothy get there rather badly." Ozma said into the phone,

"She's live in that house for the better part of her life, but only as caretaker." Alex sighs, "and as I said, I don't disagree that we do have to get her there at some point, but I think she should want to do it before we actually get her there."

"That your actual opinion?" Eliza asked curiously.

"You know the old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make them drink?" alex asked, "She's never expressed much interest in returning there."

"That so?" she responded "Well, she asked for protections to be put on and around the place, and has never asked to have them lifted, she does still care about the old house."

"of course, she cares about it, but that's still not an expressed desire to go there, but we seem to be going about in circles at this point." He sighs, "was beating this point into the ground your only reason for calling?" he asked curiously.

"Well, not quite but that can wait until tomorrow" she said slowly before she suddenly spouting off quickly "anyways, I do have another call to make, give everyone my best, see you tomorrow"

The line went dead at this, alex hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of his nose

" well, that went better than I could have hoped" Alex said sighing.

"Alex, you did hear that she was thinking about something before suddenly hanging up, didn't you?" Madeline asked curiously.

"Yea, I noticed." He said thinking about this for a moment before picking up the phone and dialing a number. "Blast." he sighed.

"What?" Ozma asked worriedly.

"Well, either someone else is on the line, or she's just called the school." Alex said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Why does she have that number memorized?" Madeline asked curiously, "considering she's homeschooled that's strange even by my standards"

"But Barbara would have it memorized, and Eliza did spend a lot of time in town during the ordeal with the jester" Mr. teak said, "you know back when he was in that phase"

"Yes dad, and I think we get the point." Alex sighed

Meanwhile at the school

Dorothy was bored, really bored. But at least she was awake. Herself, Ellie, Aislynn, and Zeb were the only ones who didn't seem to have completely drifted off. Though Ellie was halfway there, and Zeb seemed to be in the middle of a daydream.

Dorothy however was looking at the review packet. She did not know how it was she was still awake. What she did know at this point was that she didn't enjoy it. she wasn't usually one to doze during a class but found herself stuck wanting to but at the same time unable to. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the sound of the intercom cracking to life.

"Dorothy Gale, would you please report to the principal's office." Came the voice of the secretary of the intercom.

Mr. Pryce sighed.

"Ms. Gale, do you think you will be returning?" he asked sounding as bored as the place looked.

"I didn't know I was going to be summoned." Dorothy said stretching

She got up, yawned, and started making her way to Mr. Alistair's office. She got about halfway there when she found herself awake enough to realize that she had left her boots and the slippers back at the classroom. She vaguely considered going back for a moment. But shook it off with a yawn.

"That's not like you." She said to herself, "to shake something like that off, are you really that exhausted?" she asked herself.

She quickly answered yes to this question and found herself distracted as the rain seemed to start pouring down hard again. A similar deluge had caught them on the way out of the house and on their way into the school

It was one of those rains where no matter how fast you ran, you were still getting soaked. Her boots had been victim to this. The slippers being in her satchel kept most of her dry, when she had last looked at they had been glowing which told her that like the scepter they were able to do some things on their own. Though she had been told this on a few occasions. And it proved alex theory, at least partially. She believed had she been wearing them she probably would have remained completely dry.

As she got to the office, she glanced out one of the windows for a minute. It appeared to be raining so hard that she was sure that not only would one get rather soaked were they out in that, regardless of wearing a raincoat or utilizing an umbrella, but they would also have quite a bit of difficulty seeing where they were going.

The secretary motioned for her to go into Mr. Alistair's office. He was on the phone, holding it, and a speaker phone contraption connected to it. he looked at dorothy for a moment, pressed two buttons it.

"Phone call for you, I'll leave it on speaker" he said

"who's calling?" dorothy said pulling a seat to the desk and plopping down in it.

"Your boyfriend's favorite cousin" came Eliza's voice from the machine, "and you sound exhausted." She said

"I am" dorothy said a little grumpily

"Studying going well?" she asked curiously.

"its why I'm exhausted, everyone's nearly falling asleep in the classroom." Dorothy sighed pinching the bridge of her nose "Eliza, I don't mean to sound grumpy or rude but is there a reason you're calling?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, I need to borrow…" she was cut off however by the intercom

What none of them had expected was to hear Alex's voice over the intercom.

"Custodian to the entrance foyer with a wet floor sign, and a mop" his voice said.

At that moment Alex burst in, he looked soaked, and the room was purveyed by the smell of wet dog. Looking at his eyes, dorothy went wide-eyed. The yellow eyes of the beast were showing.

"Oh good, the calvary has turned up." Eliza said giggling.

"Soaking wet." The Beast said going over to a cabinet and opening it, producing a towel

"And smelling horribly of wet dog." Mr. Alistair said coughing.

"Well sorry, but I had to get here as quickly as I could, and that required taking the form of the wolf." The beast said taking deep breath as his face, eyes and hands began to glow.

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Both dorothy and Mr. Alistair asked loudly.

Alex blinked and as his eyes turned back to their normal blue.

"I lost control for once" he said, his eyes flashing yellow.

"Was your assumption that I would be calling here?" Eliza asked sounding impressed

"Actually, Eliza, it was." He said drying himself off now.

"What could she possibly have to say that risked using the wolf form?" Dorothy asked worriedly.

"Oh, right, dorothy, Mom, Dad, and I need to borrow alex tomorrow afternoon." Eliza said, "for some heavy lifting."

"Okay?" dorothy asked drumming her fingers on Mr. Alistair's desk, "And this was worth getting into an unnecessary tizzy about?"

"Alex wasn't getting into a tizzy about that. He was getting into a tizzy about the fact that he has to come over for it." Eliza said, trailing off.

"Over to the old house?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes" they both said.

Dorothy sighed and turned to Alex.

"Alex, was it really necessary to storm all the way here for that?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I was going to wait until tonight until I worked out that Eliza decided to call here." Alex said.

Dorothy pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"Alex, I know it's been a long day for just about everyone, and the rain has put people a little on edge." Mr. Alistair said, "but you still took the form of a giant wolf, in public, outside of the land of Oz."

"Oh, don't worry about that uncle, the rain made perfect cover." He said

"You could have gotten seen, or seriously harmed" Mr. Alistair said, "since when have you be cavalier about your own safety?" he asked.

"We're asking this where dorothy is concerned?" Eliza asked, "I just have to imply something, and he'll come running, I didn't expect the wolf form."

Dorothy looked at the speakerphone machine at this statement, as this sounded like blatant admission of instigating what happened.

"Eliza?" dorothy asked curiously

"Yes?" she responded.

"Did you just admit to instigating what happened?" she asked curiously.

The phone went silent for a moment, nothing but white noise.

"I…guess so, I did expect him to come running as soon as I hung up." She said.

"Eliza, that is extremely irresponsible, even by the standards of a rivalry." Mr. Alistair said

"It doesn't absolve you either, alex" Dorothy said, "you're both better than this, Eliza, it wasn't necessary to instigate alex into making his way here, but Alex, it certainly wasn't a smart decision to use the wolf form in public, cover of rain or not"

"Not that we don't love the smell of wet dog." Mr. Alistair said covering his face with a handkerchief, "But was running here in the rain really necessary, cant the scepter transport you?"

"I wasn't thinking about that." Alex said finally starting to dry himself off

"Obviously" everyone said rather loudly.

"On that subject" Madeline said appearing with the scepter in hand causing everyone to jump "I would have been here sooner, but I had to get my gloves." She said handing it off to dorothy with a yawn

"You look exhausted." Mr. Alistair said looking her over

"Sounds it too." Eliza said over the speaker.

"Well, evidently if Dorothy is bored and exhausted the force of that will hit me like a truck as well." Madeline said letting out another yawn, "standardized testing, and studying are a tiring combination"

"be lucky you only have to deal with the fallout, it is as boring as it feels" dorothy said stretching to try and get herself more awake and alert.

"Anyways, at any rate, your father doesn't seem to be too upset with you about what you've done, but he's still informed your mother about it" she said.

"and mom has been a tiny bit on edge since the incident with the Imps" Alex sighed.

"well, look, I know it wont help what's been done, but I suppose I should apologize for instigating it, I really didn't expect things to go this far. Alex, ill see you tomorrow." Eliza said quickly hanging up.

Mr. Alistair sighed, shut off the speaker function of the phone, leaned back in his chair. placed his hands over his face and let out what could only be described as a annoyed sounding scream.

"you do realize that I'm most likely about to get a very angry phone call from my sister, correct?" Mr. Alistair asked his tone taking the same one it had with Annabella and Delilah, "Alex, why don't you go assist the custodian in cleaning up the mess you made." He suggested firmly.

Alex didn't hesitate or make any remarks, he just quickly vacated the office. Dorothy watched as he left and was about to follow behind when Mr. Alistair did a cough which caused her to turn.

"I think the beast is a tiny bit annoyed with him as of late" Dorothy said trying in some way to justify what happened, "he admitted it yesterday, he usually lets the beast out for like an hour or two to run about while he's been in Oz. but hasn't felt he could safely do it around here."

"Didn't stop the beast from seizing control and doing it anyways" Madeline said.

"And it doesn't justify it either" Mr. Alistair said, "I wouldn't have minded it so much if he hadn't admitted to using the wolf form."

"And him making a mess of the entrance foyer would be alright in that case?" Madeline asked sounding rather confused.

"No, it wouldn't, I'd still be annoyed at that but I wouldn't have to worry about the possible consequences of him being in the wolf form here in Kansas." He said.

"how do you think I feel about it?" Dorothy asked in return, a question suddenly forming in her head "actually that reminds me, has officer gray been told?" she asked curiously

"I believe so…" he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

Dorothy nodded and sighed,

"at least with the sheriff in your guy's corner alex has less of a likelihood of…" Madeline started to say before trailing off with the glare that both Mr. Alistair and Dorothy gave him.

Mr. Alistair opened his mouth to say something when the phone rang. He picked it up

"Mr. oh Madison, no I was rather expec…" he found himself being cut off and was listening to whatever his sister had to say.

Dorothy and Madeline took this as their cue to step out, which they did. It didn't take them that long to make their way to the entrance foyer where alex and the custodian were mopping up the water on the floor.

"what I would like to know, is how the heck did you get covered in so much water?" he asked curiously.

"long story." Madeline said sighing

Dorothy walked over to alex, the floor still damp, and whispered into his ear.

"how did you even get in covered in this much water, the doors are pull to open?" she asked looking at them.

"Heck if I remember, kitten." He whispered back, "I wasn't in control."

"you know, if you two are going to try for private conversation, maybe try being more than 3 feet away from other people." Madeline suggested in a hushed tone.

Alex rolled his eyes and motioned for the custodian to give them some privacy, an invitation that he took.

"I'll go make sure you didn't make too much of a mess of your uncles office" He said annoyed.

Once he was gone, dorothy and alex shared a glance then looked at Madeline. She smiled and took her wand out, waving it and immediately finishing the job. Alex brought his mop back to its bucket and wrung it out before moving it aside.

"kitten I…" but he was cut off by dorothy putting a finger against his lips.

"Alex, I don't want to hear you apologize again, really, I don't." she said in earnest. "for whatever reason I cant find myself being more mad at you than I am with Eliza."

"From what I can tell, once he realized that Eliza was about to try and deliberately set you off, the beast took over." Madeline said sighing.

"that's precisely what happened." Alex said, "I saw red and barely remember a thing, I know I transformed."

"And the next thing you know you're here?" dorothy asked curiously.

He nodded, dorothy sighed.

"Alex, in this case, neither you or Eliza are in the right, and while I cant justify either of your actions, it still was a rather irrational thing to do," dorothy said firmly, "All I ask is that you two…three?" she asked looking between him and Madeline.

Both shrugged in response.

"stop trying to wind each other up?" Alex asked completing the thought.

Dorothy nodded.

"I know for a fact you and the beast are capable of getting along, and the same applies for Eliza, but it doesn't help anyone if you all are consistently trying to get under each other's skin." She said.

Alex nodded at this.

"I know kitten, and I shouldn't have lost my temper like that." He said sighing, "Neither of us should have."

"I think you need to consider letting the beast have a little more freedom even while you're here, repressing him just seems to cause dangerous outbursts, which is rather sad as you two were doing so well when the imps separated you two." Madeline said leaning against the wall closest to her.

"I mean, barring transforming, its not like he can get very far, I don't think the scepter would allow it." Dorothy said looking at it

It pinged in agreement, and alex held his hand out for it. however, instead of flying to his hand, it let out a bright flash and what appeared to be tendrils of light formed from the crystal. Wrapping around his left wrist and suddenly heaving backwards, yanking alex forward.

"we didn't ask you to prove a point." Dorothy said looking at it curiously.

"actually it kind of proves several, I mean, the slippers can come to you of their own volition, even though I've noticed that they haven't, and we know the scepter functionally speaking has had a mind of its own for a while." Alex pointed out as the scepter released him.

He clenched his fist and opened it a few times to restart blood circulation.

"which makes me more surprised that you even managed to leave the shop." Dorothy said looking at it.

"even the scepter doesn't like tangling with the beast, and only does so because he commanded her not to let him have his way." Madeline sighed.

They all stood there in silence for a bit, until the scepter broke it with a single ping.

"Anyways, Kitten, I should probably go and apologize to my uncle again, and you should probably get back to class and finish being bored out of your mind by the review work." Alex said sighing and giving her a quick kiss.

"when I left your uncle, your mother had just called, I have a feeling you'll probably be in for an earful." She warned as he grabbed the scepter and ran along.

"oh I'm sure." He said sighing.

Dorothy and Madeline started back towards the classroom, Madeline remarking that she should probably get back to the carpenter's shop and check on Ozma and Mr. teak. However, there was a tense bit of silence between the two, and dorothy knew exactly what Madeline was repressing and holding back saying.

"Maddie, seeing as you'll find a way to bring it into conversation regardless, why don't you just say it?" dorothy asked looking at her as they stopped just outside the classroom.

Madeline looked at and giggled.

"Well, of course I'd have found a way to bring it up." She said giggling, "its nice to see you following in your mothers' footsteps."

Dorothy rolled her eyes at this, sighed, and walked back into the classroom without another word.

a quick authors note…if the last third feels a bit disjointed, this went through a rewrite about halfway through and the doc corrupted I lost about a third of the work which I had to rewrite from memory. since the one thing I don't save in a notebook is rewrites.