*Disclaimer* I don't own Tin Man,

The Beginning

Chapter Four: Family Secrets

Ambrose was so excited and nervous about seeing the princess that he couldn't even work on any of his inventions as he thought about her. "Oh I can't wait, I can't wait...."[/color] He said as he walked around his room until he heard a knock on the door. "Ambrose you can't wear those old rags to your party. Come see what your father bought you...." Carry said from behind the door. The preteen ran over and opened his door and smiled at his mother who was holding a brand new outfit just right to fit her son. He took the neatly ironed white button up shirt and slipped it on over his red and black striped shirt and buttoned only the middle button as his mother shook her head and rolled her eyes. He then grabbed a formal red and black vest and looked at it with a smile as he put it on not bothering to button it up. Carry then handed him a nicely ironed pair of brown pants.

Ambrose removed his shoes and belt and pulled his jeans off not caring if his mother was in the room. He slipped the brand new pants over his black and red boxers and zipped the zipper on the pants and buttoned them before taking the final perfectly folded and ironed garment his mother had in her hand. Unfolding it Ambrose smiled as he held the brown trench coat in his hands. "Oh boy!" He said slipping it on over the rest of his clothes and then fastening the yellow tassels so the trench coat hid the rest of his shirts that he was wearing and seemed to squeeze to his chest perfectly, but he enjoyed the feeling. "Your father knew you'd like them...." His mother said before kissing her son on the cheek. Ambrose sat on the bed and grabbed his brown steel-toed boots and slipped them back on. They seemed to match his outfit perfectly. "How do I look?" The young boy said standing up and turning so his mother would get a good look at him. "You look like my little Prince Charming...." Carry said before kissing her son on the head. Ambrose sighed and rolled his eyes as he looked at himself in the mirror that was haning on his closet door. "Mom...." He said tilting his head and looking at his mother.

After admiring himself Ambrose walked out to the room and smiled at the party decorations as Moritanium, as always, tackled him to the ground. "Mory you're gonna get my clothes dirty...." He said pushing the dog off and stroking her chest.

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Lavender couldn't wait to get to Ambrose' house. She was so excited about the whole thing that she kept bouncing happily and for the third time hit the top of her head on the carriage ceiling. "Ugh!" She said in annoyance as her father bit back a laugh. "It's not funny...." She muttered as she rubbed her head now trying not to think of the pain and the headache she had. "You need to settle down Oz, you're gonna give yourself a concussion if you keep doing that...." Logan said calmly as they neared the gates to the shining city which only heightened Lavender's excitement. "We're here!" She said bouncing once again in her chair. "Lavender calm down!" Logan snapped in a polite way and at once the young princess sat still in her chair as the carriage came to a stop. "Thank you daddy!" She said to her father before kissing him on the cheek and leaving before he could say anything and grabbed the young horse.

The young girl looked back at the carriage and smiled back looking straight ahead with a satisfied expression. "Works every time...." She said to the small horse as she pulled him forward. For some reason she knew exactly where she was going as if Ambrose were there leading her toward his house. She walked until she saw a house with a white pickett fence around it. She walked up and opened the fence door and walked up to the door knocking as she tied the horse to the porch so he couldn't get away. Ambrose walked over and opened the door for her. "Princess... I mean Lavender.... I mean.... I mean.... ugh!" He growled as he closed his eyes and banged his head on the door frame in an irritated way. "Ambrose!" She said in an excited voice as she pounced on him knocking him to the ground. "Whoa!" Ambrose shouted as he caught his new friend and landed hard on the carpet floor. "Nice to see you to Oz...." He said not realizing what he had called her. However Lavender had noticed, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I've been dying to see you...." Lavender said with a gentle smile as she stood up and pulled Ambrose to his feet.

"Thanks, I've been dying to see you to. I couldn't get you off my mind...." He said as he made to bow to the future ruler of the OZ, but she pulled him up straight and smiled at him. "Please no formalities, you're my friend...." She said with a smile, her lavender eyes sparkling in the light from the chandelier. Ambrose bowed his head in a friendly way. "My apologies...." He said with a smile noticing the look Lavender was giving him. "My apologies...." He unknowingly repeated as he put his hands behind his back. Just then the young princess noticed that he was no longer in the strange clothes he had been wearing earlier, but was now in formal dress. "You look great...." She said with a smile. Ambrose smiled and wiped the dust off his sleeves and tilted his head. "My father bought them for me for my birthday...." He said in a proud voice.

"Not to sound rude Ambrose, but your dad dresses funny. So do you...." She said as Ambrose lead her up to his room. He opened the door and held it open for her and waited until she had walked into the room. "My father's from the Other Side...." Ambrose said as he watched Lavender pick up one of his inventions and stare at it, but she quickly put it down and looked at Ambrose with a confused, but interested expression. "Really?" She said sitting on the bed as if telling Ambrose that she wanted to hear everything about it. "Of course, he was born in Aberfeldy, Pertshire, Scotland but raised in New York City in America...." He said before noticing the confused look on his new best friend's face. He smiled and rolled his eyes as he pulled out his father's old atlas, which had been a birthday present to Ambrose the year before.

Opening the book to Europe he looked on the island of Scotland and pointed to where Aberfeldy would be seeing as it wasn't exactly on the map. "My dad was born right about here...." Ambrose said pointing to the map giving the best estimate of his father's home town. "What's this?" Lavender asked with the same confused tone. "It's a map of the OS which I can assure you is WAY different from the OZ. Instead of different realms they have huge masses of land surrounded by oceans called countries. There's the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific and I forget the other one...." He said trying as best as he could to explain it. He shook his head thinking of a way to continue. "Uh!" Snapping his fingers Ambrose got up and ran over to a his bedside table. He opened a hidden cabinet and pulled out a jar full of odd looking green paper with weird looking men on them. These things only fascinated Lavender more as Ambrose poured it all onto the bed.

"This is the currency of the Other Side...." He said and showed her the bills as he called them off. "one dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars and so on...." He sighed as he watched the young princess pick up a quarter and stare at it. "Moving on.... that in your hand is a quarter, worth twenty-five cents. This is a dime which is worth ten cents, the nickel five cents and the penny is one cent...." He said as he once again showed her the odd tiny coins allowing her to examine them. "It takes four quarters to make one dollar, but then it also takes twenty nickels or ten dimes or 100 pennies and that's a lot to be carrying around. That's why they have the paper money, which is easily rippable...." He said picking up a twenty dollar bill and ripping it in half seeing as he had about $2,000 in twenties alone not counting the rest of the bills he had. "That's silly...." Lavender said in a shocked voice as she picked up the two ripped halves of the twenty dollar bill. Ambrose just shrugged as he put all the money from the Other Side back into the jar and left it on his bed.

"So what was that fabric you were wearing earlier, the fabric your pants were made of...." She said intrigued by some of the inventions that were scattered around the room. Ambrose winced for no reason and then just shrugged his shoulders. "Oh those are called jeans, they're really comfortable...." He said with a smile as he looked at the door, although he didn't know why he was so nervous.

"Ambrose can you bring the Princess down here please?" His father called up the stairs. Ambrose smiled at his new friend and took her hand in his gently pulling her off the bed. "Don't tell any one that my dad is from the other side, I uh wasn't supposed to tell anybody...." He said as he lead her out of the room. "I wasn't supposed to tell anybody...." He said and once again Oz confronted him that he had repeated him. "You already said that, and don't worry I won't tell anyone I promise...." Lavender said in a calm voice. Ambrose let out a growl as he tripped over his feet in the hall way. He was constantly doing that and it irritated him just as much as repeating himself did since he had lived in this same house his whole life and new it like the back of his hand. "Ambrose Rylenjahull Avery!" His father shouted seeing as guests were starting to arrive for the party. "Coming!" Ambrose shouted as he slid down the banister of the stairs with Lavender in tow.