Disclaimer, you know.
Early the next morning Alex found himself being quietly shaken awake from his chair by Em. Alex sighed and turned to her. She was now holding the glass bottle of Grapefruit juice and a glass. Alex smiled and got up before walking over to the bed and placing a hand on Dorothy's forehead. Her temperature had gone down a bit since the previous afternoon. She was still pale but her temperature had most definitely gone down. Dorothy groaned a bit and her eyes slowly opened. She turned to Alex and smiled.
"Sleep well?" Alex asked curiously.
"Surprisingly." Dorothy aid weakly.
"Well, dorothy, now that you're awake…" Em said trailing off and pouring some of the grapefruit juice into a glass.
"well, this should be interesting, I mean, I hate grapefruit, wait a minute, where are Toto and pockets?' Dorothy asked curiously
"With Ellie." Em said handing the glass to Dorothy.
"Oh, well, bottoms up." Dorothy said taking a sip from the glass.
Immediately she gagged as the liquid flowed into her mouth. The juice was intolerably bitter. She however tried her best to tolerate it as Mr. Foreman had brought up that it was something her father had gone through when he was younger. Dorothy couldn't help but think about her parents at this point and it did upset her. But she decided that she had to be strong. Just like she had to be to even stomach this stuff.
"How is it?" Alex asked curiously.
"Better than magic." Dorothy replied coughing a bit.
"I can imagine, I'm sure it smells better as well." Alex replied.
Dorothy simply smiled at Alex and down the rest of the glass as quickly as possible. She coughed loudly and gagged a bit before laying back and covering her face with a pillow.
"I take it you regret doing that?" Em asked chuckling
"Uh-huh" Dorothy replied, her voice muffled slightly.
Em laughed some more, even Alex couldn't help but chuckle himself before sitting back down.
"Mrs. Gale, I think Dorothy's going to want some time to lay alone with her regret." Alex said.
Mrs. Gale smiled and nodded. She then set the bottle of juice down on the side table and started for the door. Alex attempted to follow only to find that Dorothy had grabbed onto his wrist. Em looked back for a second and chuckled before leaving. Alex merely sighed and knelt down next to the bed.
Meanwhile in Mr. And Mrs. Gale's bedroom in the city.
Henry had been awake as long his wife had been. He was now, with the help of Locasta, feeding the triplets while Em was busy with Dorothy.
"Locasta, I can't thank you enough for helping me while Em is taking care of Dorothy." henry said setting Alicia down in the crib next to Robert whom had already been fed.
"It's no problem henry, don't worry about it." Locasta said setting Amber down in the crib with her siblings.
"Poppa?" Amber asked curiously.
"Yes amber?" Henry asked curiously.
"Is Dorothy okay?" Amber asked.
"Yes dear, she is, she's just ill, she's not feeling well." Henry replied.
Amber looked at her siblings for a moment and they all looked at henry curiously. Henry chuckled and sat down on his bed as Em walked back into the room.
"Well, Dorothy just downed an entire glass of grapefruit juice in a matter of seconds." Em said sighing and sitting down on the bed.
"Oh dear, she must be miserable, Frank and I tried that once when we were kids and ended up with stomachs more sour than what we started with." Henry said.
"Well she won't do it again I assume." Locasta said smiling.
"I wouldn't assume not." Em said.
"Well, I'm going to go see if the others are awake, the clouds will completely cover Oz in a matter of days, and I fear then the jester will invade." Locasta said leaving the room.
Meanwhile back in Kansas.
Mr. Teak had been up at the crack of dawn. This time he was not in his shop but in the kitchen of his house looking out the back window at the dark clouds surrounding Kansas. Mr. Teak then sighed and walked over to the kitchen table where he had a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs set out. It wasn't long until his wife entered the kitchen, she was rather surprised to find him sitting at the kitchen table rather than being at work.
"I'm surprised you're not at work." Mrs. Teak said sitting down at the kitchen table with her husband.
"I'll be going to the shop in an hour or so, just wanted to enjoy a nice breakfast for once." Mr. Teak replied taking a sip of coffee.
"I thought you hated coffee?" Mrs. Teak asked curiously.
"I do, but I need to be awake, and I always find coffee does the job." Mr. Teak said.
"Fair enough dear, Officer Grey is coming over for lunch today by the way if you want to come home from work early for once." Mrs. Teak replied.
"I'll think about it dear but I won't make any guarantees." Mr. Teak replied.
Mrs. Teak simply sighed and got up just as Annabella ran into the kitchen.
"Mommy, oh, father, why are you still home?" Annabella asked rather surprised.
"I'm eating breakfast sweetheart, when I'm finished I'll head off to work." Mr. Teak said returning to his breakfast.
"Ah." Annabella said going into the fridge and grabbing an apple which she brought over to her mom to wash for her.
Back in the emerald city.
Dorothy had been awake for nearly an hour or so. She wasn't feeling as tired or weak as she had yesterday but now she had a terrible stomach ache. Alex was sitting by her side as she wouldn't let him leave. He didn't mind much since his concern for her greater than his concern for most people aside from his family.
"Alex, can you do me a favor?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Anything you'd like." Alex replied.
"Go find the china princess, I want to talk to her." Dorothy replied.
Alex nodded and got up. As he left the room Toto and pockets ran passed him and into the bed room. Ellie was awake now, he knew that much. He walked over to the china princess's bed room and knocked on the door. After a minute or so of waiting and nothing happening he decided to go check somewhere else.
"Alex?" Came Ellie's voice from behind him.
"Yes Ellie?" Alex asked curiously.
"Why aren't you with Dorothy?" Ellie asked curiously.
"I'm looking for the china princess, Dorothy wants to talk to her." Alex replied turning to face her.
"I'd recommend checking the chambers they may be checking on Kansas using the rainbow mover, scarecrow taught her and Marshall Mallow how to use it just in case he was to be captured, Tin man and lion also know how to use it but I haven't seen them since ace and scarecrow were captured." Ellie replied.
"Ellie, look for them, that's rather worrying." Alex replied.
"Yes sir." Ellie said saluting and running back towards her room.
Alex sighed and went on his way to the chambers. When he got there he immediately ran to scarecrow's workshop where he found the china princess and Marshall Mallow staring into the screen of the rainbow mover. Alex did a fake cough which caused both of them jump.
"Oh, Alex, what brings you here?" The princess asked curiously.
"Um, Dorothy wants to talk to you china princess." Alex said.
"Oh, did she say why?" The princess asked curiously.
"No, but I didn't bother to ask." Alex said walking over to the rainbow mover.
The china princess nodded and walked out of the workshop leaving Alex and Marshal Mallow alone. Alex sighed and looked into the screen on the rainbow mover. It was showing the images of Kansas a Marshal Mallow continued to press some button on it.
"So, how is the patient doing?" Marshall Mallow asked curiously.
"She's fine, she downed an entire glass of grapefruit juice in a matter of seconds and has a rather bad stomach ache." Alex replied.
"Ah, what a pity." Marshall Mallow said
"Yes, it is, but her fever has gone down a bit, so how are things in Kansas?" Alex asked curiously.
"Quiet, outside of the dark clouds rolling in." Marshal mallow said.
"Nice" Alex replied.
Meanwhile back at Dorothy's room.
When the princess arrived at Dorothy's room she found Dorothy lying on her bed with Toto and pockets on her chest and the scepter in her hand. She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it.
"Alex said you wanted to talk to me?" the chain princess asked.
"Yes, I do, I'm glad he managed to find you." Dorothy said pushing herself into a sitting position.
"Dorothy, before we chat, why are you holding the scepter doesn't it float?" The princess asked curiously.
"I don't know, I just wanted to hold onto it for some strange reason." Dorothy said
"Right, any ways what did you want to talk about?" The princess asked curiously.
"It's about the current situation, the fact that I can't leave this room by both Elena and Mr. Foreman's orders, how am I supposed to keep any of you guys safe if I'm stuck in bed?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Well, you can't, but don't worry, we'll manage somehow." The princess said trying to sound as encouraging as possible.
Dorothy didn't reply at this point, she merely laid back and whacked her head lightly on the headboard.
"Well, I'm sorry if that's not the answer you want but you have to face the facts." The princess said.
"Um, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Ellie asked curiously as she walked in.
"No Ellie, not all." Dorothy said sitting back up.
"China princess, have you seen tin man and lion around at all, I can't find them in the crystal" Ellie said worriedly.
"I thought we were supposed to be trying to keep me from getting stressed?" Dorothy asked looking at Ellie.
"Ellie, I haven't seen them since yesterday, if they can't be found in the crystal ball anywhere in the palace then it's safe to assume they've been captured." The princess replied.
Dorothy opened her mouth to reply but was immediately interrupted by Locasta running into the room and grabbing Ellie. The princess immediately got up and followed leaving Dorothy alone with Toto and pockets. She sighed and picked up Toto.
"You two should follow them, let me know what's going on." Dorothy said.
"Yes mam." Toto said as he and pockets jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.
Dorothy then laid back and sighed. She knew what ever was going on. It wasn't good. And as the clock struck nine in the morning she looked over to the side table and decided to have some more juice while she waited.
Well, that was, interesting to say the least. Well what do you think? Have tin man and Lion secretly been captured by the jester under everyone's noses? Or have they just popped out so the lion could get a nice meal? What has Locasta so worried? And will the triplets learn to walk before the end of the story? Pointless question I know, but I ran out of questions to pose. So sweet reviewers what do you think will happen in part 2 of this two parter?