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Only three winters have passed since Aunt Em and Uncle Henry have died. Their deaths being as sudden as rain on a sunny day, sure you could see some signs of the clouds overhead but you rarely expect the downpour.
Of course little Miss Dorothy Gale wasn’t old enough to take the farm so it got handed to Hunk, Hickory and Zeke. The three men had been working on the farm since then and at first, no one knew what to do with Dorothy.
The girl had no family, no adult friends and nobody in rural Kansas was ready to take on an 11 year old kiddo. So for a while she just hung around the farm and continued to live in the house with the men taking care of her to the best of their abilities. All of them taking turns looking after her and letting her tag along with them occasionally; following along with Zeke when he was helping with the animals. Watching Hunk whack himself over and over and get progressively more frustrated, and watching Hickory try to craft up something to prevent even more mishaps on the farm.
It was a simple life really, but they all knew they would have to figure out a caretaker sooner or later. Someone had to man up and finally take on Dorothy as their kin.
___
Dorothy rushed through the fields with Toto after having run about a mile away from the house by now. Soaking up the sun and marching through the short grassy plains. The area around her nearly resembled the Palouse with its wavy hills and clear sky.
It was only once her legs began to tire she finally stopped her march and fished a small sandwich out of her basket along with some dried meat for Toto. The pair sat down to enjoy their meals in the meadow as the sun began to set. A ombre of Orange, Yellow and violet slowly covering the light blue of the sky.
“Well it's certainly a pretty sight!” Dorothy remarked to her small Terrier. Toto yipped back as he chased a fly which had been circling around him. Giving Dorothy a quick laugh at the scene.
Only by the last bite of her sandwich did she realize the cardinal rule she’d broken. For Dorothy Gale was never supposed to be out past nightfall. Yet here she was; a mile away from her house past dark in the fields. As soon as she realized she began to round up her things and yelled at Toto to follow her.
Unfortunately for Dorothy however; the dark night had worsened her vision greatly for she could hardly see a thing in front of her! Her only sense of which way to head home was her memory for she had remembered she ran in a straight line north from the farm to get to where she was. So she tumbled and trotted till the dim light of the farm was visible in the distance, but right as she noticed the light— she tripped.
Her right knee dug straight into a rock as a searing pain jolted through her. Blood ran out of her knee as she got up from the slip and cradled her now busted knee. Tears were leaking from her eyes and she tried to use a napkin from her basket to soak up the blood before she decided to tie it around her knee and keep running back home.
___
Hunk and Hickory were stood idly by the dining room table together. Seeing as Zeke had gone to bed early that left the two alone together to worry over Dorothy. Coming up with theories and hypotheses about her absence and wondering whether they should go looking for her.
However, just as Hickory was about to venture out into the dark and look for her, Hunk's head snapped to the door after hearing the faintest sound of footsteps. Immediately he rushed to the door and pulled it open only to see Dorothy running towards him with a bloody knee.
“Hunk!” Dorothy shouted as she ran into Hunk’s arms. Her tears stained his vest as he held her close. “I-I’m awful sorry for staying out late b-but-” Hunk cut her off and scooped her up into his arms before she could finish. “Not now Dorothy— I outta patch you up!” He announced.
He sat her down on the chair as Hickory finally saw her. Immediately he kneeled next to her to assess the damage. “Dorothy! Dorothy, I was worried sick about ya!” He yelped as he looked over Dorothy’s wounded kneecap. The girl shrunk further into herself as Hickory slowly untied the makeshift bandage and Hunk passed him some ointment which he splashed on the gash.
“We ain't mad at ya Dot.” Hickory started. “We just get awfully worried about ya!”
Hunk chimed in as he passed a bandage to Hickory and took the ointment bottle back. “We care about ya, we wouldn't wanna see ya hurt… ‘yer like a um…”
Hunk paused as a look of realization slowly creeped onto his face. He quickly stuffed the ointment back in the cabinet and turned to Hickory.
“Darlin’ ya mind talkin’ ta me outside for a second?” He asked. Giving Hick his best attempt at puppy dog eyes as he did. Hickory gave him a puzzled look but patted Dorothy's knee and promised her they'd be quick before he grabbed the lantern and started towards the door with Hunk behind him.
Hunk led the older man to the side of the house and grabbed his free hand. “Hunk I've just realized sumthin’ and I need ya to keep an open mind. Alright?”
Hunk nodded his head slowly and waited for him to continue on. (Which Hunk was more than happy to do)
“I just realized— I think Dorothy's just like a daughter to me! And I mean we're together right? We can raise a kiddo, and Dorothy's not all that much of a handful!” Hickory slowly realized what Hunk was getting at.
Now it wasn't like the notion of adopting Dorothy had never crossed Hickory's mind, there had been some times with the little girl where he couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he were her father. But would it really be possible for two gay men in the South to raise a child together? Is that even theoretically something that could work out? Could they somehow find a way to make it happen? Hickory had no idea but the look on his lover's face told him something.
It told him that he at least needed to try.
He had known he wanted to adopt Dorothy since even before he and Hunk had gotten together but it just never felt like the right time to him. But now that the girl was 11 and they were quite firm in their relationship together he figured they might as well. Surely they could find a way to adopt her and continue to raise her on the farm. All the farm hands had already agreed that they would never be able to bear it if Dorothy had to go off to some random person's home. They all knew they wanted to keep her on the farm with them.
Hickory rubbed his temples as he smiled. Hunk looked at him expectingly, clearly waiting for an answer.
Hickory kissed Hunk slowly before he turned to go back inside. “Alright, but we ‘otta ask Dorothy first.” He said.
He could practically feel Hunk beaming behind him as they walked back into the kitchen. Dorothy was still sitting on the stool they had left her on and was clearly waiting for them to return. She piped up the second she heard the door rattle.
“Dot! We gotta ask ya a big girl question, okay?” Hickory confided. Dorothy nodded vigorously as she grabbed Toto off the table. “Of course Hick!” She chirped.
Hunk and Hickory sat down across from her at the table. Both of them waited for the other to start before Hunk chuckled and decided to speak up first and cut out the awkward silence.
“Dorothy, how would you feel about us adoptin' ya?” He questioned. Her eyes went wide in pure awe as she covered her mouth. “Can ya do that?!” She asked. Hickory nodded and took her small hands into his comparatively large ones. “Yeah I reckon we can. Only if ya want to of course— but you could stay here with all of us if ya don't mind us taking you on!”
Dorothy leaped up from her seat and began to skip around the floor (Despite her still wounded knee) She looked as happy as ever as she chanted something like “I'm gonna be Uncle Hunk and Hick’s kid!”
Hickory leaned on Hunk's shoulder as he quietly took in the scene.
“So that's that huh?” He questioned.
Hunk smiled. “Yup.”
“How are we ever gonna tell Zeke?”
“I'm sure he'll be happy too, lover boy.”
