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Fic: Follow You Home - California Tin (37/42)
Title: Follow You Home - California Tin (37/42)
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain and DG, but if you saw 'em in the miniseries, they're here or mentioned. Plus some OCs
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: Cain stayed in LA. But can he survive on the Other Side?
Warning: post-series, directly after California Queen. Blame n_e_star, for she fed Steve. ;)
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The rest of 'em are mine.
Prologue | California Queen
California Tin: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve | Part Thirteen | Part Fourteen | Part Fifteen | Part Sixteen | Part Seventeen | Part Eighteen | Part Nineteen | Part Twenty | Part Twenty-One | Part Twenty-Two | Part Twenty-Three | Part Twenty-Four | Part Twenty-Five | Part Twenty-Six | Part Twenty-Seven | Part Twenty-Eight | Part Twenty-Nine | Part Thirty | Part Thirty-One | Part Thirty-Two | Part Thirty-Three | Part Thirty-Four | Part Thirty-Five | Part Thirty-Six | Part Thirty-Seven | Part Thirty-Eight | Part Thirty-Nine | Part Forty | Part Forty-One | Part Forty-Two
California Sun
Five | Waking Up (CaliSun 20.2) | Almost Like Being in Love (CaliSun 24.5) | An Hour and 45 Minutes | Hava Nagila | Unexpected
--If I did the math right, this happened the Saturday before they left for the Zone.--
-so: not quite a week ago-
Cain ignored everything he thought he'd been through - well, he tried - and got dressed, pulling his jeans and a t-shirt out of his bag. His head was pounding and he didn't care what anyone thought about his clothes. Between his traitorous feelings and his overworked brain, Wyatt Cain was ready to shoot someone. And it was all Josh's fault.
No, really.
Josh decided it was time for Cain to learn how to surf and Cain was - at this point - letting Josh run his life. He'd never been surfing and it was just another new experience. He wasn't terribly excited, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "Go once, to say you went," DG told him. "You like it, great. You don't..." she said with a shrug. So he went.
After a shopping trip, of course.
Cain found Josh in the cafeteria to tell him he'd go along. "Do I have to wear those funny shorts?" he asked, remembering the surfers on the posters in Josh's room.
Josh shook his head. "We'll get you a wetsuit. We'll have to rent you a board, too," he stated, more for his own benefit.
"So I can just wear the football stuff?" Cain asked, stealing a fry from Josh’s plate.
"You have a suit, right?" Josh asked, glaring at his liberated fry.
"A suit?" Cain asked. "I have the black jacket from the party." Josh looked at Cain and blinked once before shaking his head.
"Y'know, sometimes, I can't tell if you're kidding or serious..." He glanced at Cain again and frowned. "You're serious. Dude, do you have a suit? Swim trunks? Board shorts?" Cain shook his head. At least, he didn't think he had any of those things. "What planet are you from?" Josh asked, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head.
"We'll go after class and get you shorts," he said, waving toward Cain. Cain simply shrugged then reached for another fry.
That weekend, Cain found himself wearing a very tight wetsuit with an uncomfortably tight neck - which he was constantly pulling on - and staring out at the ocean. He hadn't been back here since the day DG had taken him, and Josh had brought him do a different sea of sand.
He couldn't exactly explain to Josh why the sand bothered him - DG didn't understand either - but the stories of the Deadly Desert had always scared him. Of course, it was a different time, a different place. DG had tried to explain the Boogeyman to him, but it just didn't register as the same thing in his mind.
Josh returned to his side with two boards and waved to the water. "Shall we?" Cain took a deep breath and nodded. How had he let himself get into this? For the time being, he was content to blame DG.
They stood at the edge of the water as Josh began going over the basics: these are fins, they go down; this goes around your ankle; this is the front of the board. He directed Cain to watch as he lay down on the board and began paddling. Turning a moment later, he waved for Cain to follow.
Looked easy enough; after all, they'd had to perform water rescues as Tin Men, but they had a small boat. Cain joined Josh in fairly calm waters and Josh reached for Cain's board as he neared. "Halfway there," he said, glancing over his shoulders. There were no swells, which didn't help the lesson.
A comment from DG when he'd picked Cain up came back to Josh and he turned to Cain with a frown. "You can swim, right?" he asked sarcastically. Last thing he needed was DG following through on her threat if any harm came to Wyatt Cain in his care. Cain glared at Josh, causing the young man to throw his hands up defensively. "Hey, you didn't know football and you didn't own board shorts."
"Yes, Josh: I can swim," Cain said slowly. "How's your balance?"
"Fine," Josh responded, slightly confused. A second later, he understood, as Cain grabbed the front of his board and flipped him off, into the ocean. Josh popped up and spit a mouthful of salt water out as Cain pointed to the fins of Josh's board.
"Board's upside down," and said with a smile and laughed as Josh smacked water at him.
After about an hour, Cain and Josh were once again sitting on their boards, not surfing. Cain was enjoying himself, but failed miserably at surfing. And he was okay with that. Josh said it was all about balance and control - two things Cain was severely lacking - and not everyone was meant to be one with the water.
DG had actually asked if he would be okay in the ocean - she knew Cain had fallen into the lake that day, long ago, but that was all she knew. Of course, that was all Cain could tell her because that was all he could remember. "Maybe you were rescued by a sea turtle," she suggested, pulling dinner out of the oven. "Or a seal," she added with a shrug.
Cain took a deep breath as Josh leaned over and dunked his head in the water. "How did it go with Amanda?" he asked, knowing Josh had been trying to work up the nerve to talk to a girl in one of his other classes. Josh made a face and Cain couldn't help but laugh. "That well?"
Josh shook his head. "I'm so not in her league," he sighed. "She's a queen and I'm a stable boy, y'know?" Josh said with a wave. Cain pressed his tongue to his back teeth and smiled. "Whatever," Josh continued, throwing his hands up and looking at the sky. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be!"
Cain had seen the girl once or twice - because Josh had pointed her out - but he'd never spoken to her. "Hello?" Cain turned to Josh, who gave him a look.
"Sorry."
Josh shrugged and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the board. "How did you know?"
"Know what?"
Josh pointed to Cain's hand. "That she was the one." Cain glanced down and held up his left hand. He smiled and turned to Josh, having no answer.
"I knew 'dora my whole life," he started, almost mellow. "We went to school together; she was... She was friends with everybody. Everybody loved her. And I was-" Cain turned and looked at Josh. "I was you." Josh smiled and shrugged as Cain rubbed at his forehead with his thumb.
"I can still remember the first thing she said to me, like she said it five minutes ago," he said with a smile.
"What did she say?" Josh asked with a grin.
Cain bit his lip, trying not to smile. "'You can have my cookie.'" He snorted lightly and leaned back on the board. "We were four." Josh looked away to hide his grin. "We were at the Fall festival and a squirrel stole my cookie." Cain nodded once and then shrugged. "And that was it; friends for life."
"Well, you know what they say about friends," Josh said with a wave, pushing himself up. He looked back to Cain and made a face. 'Seriously?'
"Anyway," Cain continued, taking a deep breath. "I was sixteen," he said with a frown. "This new guy showed up from the city and everybody just-" Cain sighed.
"Movie star," Josh supplied and Cain nodded.
"He took a shine to 'dora and I saw green. Red. Purple... And I didn't know why. I mean: it was 'dora..." Cain sighed and glanced toward the beach, then to Josh. "I said some horrible things to her," he said with a frown.
"Well, it couldn't have been that bad," Josh replied, pointing to Cain's hand.
"It was bad," Cain said with a guilty smile. "I got home that night and my mother was waiting on the porch," he said with a nod. Josh groaned and Cain smiled. "I couldn't sit for a week. She then sent me straight to 'dora's. I knew she wouldn't talk to me. And there was no way she'd forgive me. I wouldn’t have forgiven me," he said with a snort. "I didn't even want to knock on the door."
"Afraid her dad would-"
"God, no. Her father was smaller than me." Cain looked at the board and laughed. "Her mother scared the Hell outta me." Josh laughed and cupped some water onto his board to cover a dry spot. "I climbed up the side of the house and sat just outside her window. Actually, I was kinda hopin' she shove me off the roof."
Josh smiled again. "So what did you say?"
Cain turned to Josh and nodded. "Told her the truth. I didn't mean it, I just wanted- I wanted her to look at me the way she was looking at him." Josh threw a glance to the shore and tried not to smile at his friend's pain.
"What did she say?"
Cain tried to fight a smile and looked at Josh. "She was looking at him so I would look at her." Josh threw his head back, laughing, as Cain shrugged and laughed with him. "Two years later, we were married. Two years after that, Jeb was born." Josh waved to shore and Cain nodded; both shifted to paddle back in.
"When did she-" Josh asked, treading carefully. In the nearly three months he'd known Cain, all he really knew that that the man was a widower and had a son his age. He also knew not to push the topic, but figured now was good as Cain had brought it up. Kinda.
"Three years," Cain said with a shrug. He still didn't know exactly when it had happened. "Of course, I hadn't seen them in eight years..." Josh nodded; DG had told him that Cain had been separated from his family due to his work as a cop. Josh's father had died when he was four, so it'd always been just him and his mother.
And the neighbors.
And everyone at the Huntington.
"Josh, if you like this girl, you've got to tell her. She may turn you down," he added as Josh began to protest. "If it's meant to be, you'll know. But, if you don't try..." He shrugged.
"What if she's not the one?" Josh asked with a frown as they reached the beach. He leaned down to unstrap his board from his ankle and looked up to Cain.
Cain reached down to pat josh on the shoulder. "Everybody's got their 'one and only'... You'll find her, Kid." Cain leaned further and unhooked himself.
"What if she's my 'one and only', but I’m not hers?" Cain stood up and gave Josh the eyebrow.
"I don't think it works that way," Cain replied, picking up his board.
"But it's possible," Josh mused, following him.
"Okay," Cain said with a shrug and move up the beach toward the building where he'd gotten the board and the wetsuit.
Josh chased after him and nodded to himself. "It makes sense. No offense to your wife, but it's the only way your theory holds." Cain gave Josh a double-take and wondered if the boy had taken a crack to the head when he hit the water. "Look, let's ignore the mathematical improbability of 'one and only one', because it'll make my head explode," Josh said, shaking his head.
"You want me to believe that you believe there is literally one person in the world I'm meant to be with? Forever." Cain nodded. "You're full of shit," Josh stated, pointing to Cain.
"How?"
"Dee."
"What about DG?" Cain asked with a frown.
"Please," Josh huffed, looking away from Cain. "If you two were any more married... And you don't even see it. Either of you," Josh stated, pointing to Cain before walking away with his board under one arm.
_______
this was much longer than I realized... o.O
Crazy!
...oh, and YES! That there was a fandom-specific reference.
*wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!*
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain and DG, but if you saw 'em in the miniseries, they're here or mentioned. Plus some OCs
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Summary: Cain stayed in LA. But can he survive on the Other Side?
Warning: post-series, directly after California Queen. Blame n_e_star, for she fed Steve. ;)
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The rest of 'em are mine.
Prologue | California Queen
California Tin: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve | Part Thirteen | Part Fourteen | Part Fifteen | Part Sixteen | Part Seventeen | Part Eighteen | Part Nineteen | Part Twenty | Part Twenty-One | Part Twenty-Two | Part Twenty-Three | Part Twenty-Four | Part Twenty-Five | Part Twenty-Six | Part Twenty-Seven | Part Twenty-Eight | Part Twenty-Nine | Part Thirty | Part Thirty-One | Part Thirty-Two | Part Thirty-Three | Part Thirty-Four | Part Thirty-Five | Part Thirty-Six | Part Thirty-Seven | Part Thirty-Eight | Part Thirty-Nine | Part Forty | Part Forty-One | Part Forty-Two
California Sun
Five | Waking Up (CaliSun 20.2) | Almost Like Being in Love (CaliSun 24.5) | An Hour and 45 Minutes | Hava Nagila | Unexpected
--If I did the math right, this happened the Saturday before they left for the Zone.--
-so: not quite a week ago-
Cain ignored everything he thought he'd been through - well, he tried - and got dressed, pulling his jeans and a t-shirt out of his bag. His head was pounding and he didn't care what anyone thought about his clothes. Between his traitorous feelings and his overworked brain, Wyatt Cain was ready to shoot someone. And it was all Josh's fault.
No, really.
Josh decided it was time for Cain to learn how to surf and Cain was - at this point - letting Josh run his life. He'd never been surfing and it was just another new experience. He wasn't terribly excited, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "Go once, to say you went," DG told him. "You like it, great. You don't..." she said with a shrug. So he went.
After a shopping trip, of course.
Cain found Josh in the cafeteria to tell him he'd go along. "Do I have to wear those funny shorts?" he asked, remembering the surfers on the posters in Josh's room.
Josh shook his head. "We'll get you a wetsuit. We'll have to rent you a board, too," he stated, more for his own benefit.
"So I can just wear the football stuff?" Cain asked, stealing a fry from Josh’s plate.
"You have a suit, right?" Josh asked, glaring at his liberated fry.
"A suit?" Cain asked. "I have the black jacket from the party." Josh looked at Cain and blinked once before shaking his head.
"Y'know, sometimes, I can't tell if you're kidding or serious..." He glanced at Cain again and frowned. "You're serious. Dude, do you have a suit? Swim trunks? Board shorts?" Cain shook his head. At least, he didn't think he had any of those things. "What planet are you from?" Josh asked, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head.
"We'll go after class and get you shorts," he said, waving toward Cain. Cain simply shrugged then reached for another fry.
That weekend, Cain found himself wearing a very tight wetsuit with an uncomfortably tight neck - which he was constantly pulling on - and staring out at the ocean. He hadn't been back here since the day DG had taken him, and Josh had brought him do a different sea of sand.
He couldn't exactly explain to Josh why the sand bothered him - DG didn't understand either - but the stories of the Deadly Desert had always scared him. Of course, it was a different time, a different place. DG had tried to explain the Boogeyman to him, but it just didn't register as the same thing in his mind.
Josh returned to his side with two boards and waved to the water. "Shall we?" Cain took a deep breath and nodded. How had he let himself get into this? For the time being, he was content to blame DG.
They stood at the edge of the water as Josh began going over the basics: these are fins, they go down; this goes around your ankle; this is the front of the board. He directed Cain to watch as he lay down on the board and began paddling. Turning a moment later, he waved for Cain to follow.
Looked easy enough; after all, they'd had to perform water rescues as Tin Men, but they had a small boat. Cain joined Josh in fairly calm waters and Josh reached for Cain's board as he neared. "Halfway there," he said, glancing over his shoulders. There were no swells, which didn't help the lesson.
A comment from DG when he'd picked Cain up came back to Josh and he turned to Cain with a frown. "You can swim, right?" he asked sarcastically. Last thing he needed was DG following through on her threat if any harm came to Wyatt Cain in his care. Cain glared at Josh, causing the young man to throw his hands up defensively. "Hey, you didn't know football and you didn't own board shorts."
"Yes, Josh: I can swim," Cain said slowly. "How's your balance?"
"Fine," Josh responded, slightly confused. A second later, he understood, as Cain grabbed the front of his board and flipped him off, into the ocean. Josh popped up and spit a mouthful of salt water out as Cain pointed to the fins of Josh's board.
"Board's upside down," and said with a smile and laughed as Josh smacked water at him.
After about an hour, Cain and Josh were once again sitting on their boards, not surfing. Cain was enjoying himself, but failed miserably at surfing. And he was okay with that. Josh said it was all about balance and control - two things Cain was severely lacking - and not everyone was meant to be one with the water.
DG had actually asked if he would be okay in the ocean - she knew Cain had fallen into the lake that day, long ago, but that was all she knew. Of course, that was all Cain could tell her because that was all he could remember. "Maybe you were rescued by a sea turtle," she suggested, pulling dinner out of the oven. "Or a seal," she added with a shrug.
Cain took a deep breath as Josh leaned over and dunked his head in the water. "How did it go with Amanda?" he asked, knowing Josh had been trying to work up the nerve to talk to a girl in one of his other classes. Josh made a face and Cain couldn't help but laugh. "That well?"
Josh shook his head. "I'm so not in her league," he sighed. "She's a queen and I'm a stable boy, y'know?" Josh said with a wave. Cain pressed his tongue to his back teeth and smiled. "Whatever," Josh continued, throwing his hands up and looking at the sky. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be!"
Cain had seen the girl once or twice - because Josh had pointed her out - but he'd never spoken to her. "Hello?" Cain turned to Josh, who gave him a look.
"Sorry."
Josh shrugged and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the board. "How did you know?"
"Know what?"
Josh pointed to Cain's hand. "That she was the one." Cain glanced down and held up his left hand. He smiled and turned to Josh, having no answer.
"I knew 'dora my whole life," he started, almost mellow. "We went to school together; she was... She was friends with everybody. Everybody loved her. And I was-" Cain turned and looked at Josh. "I was you." Josh smiled and shrugged as Cain rubbed at his forehead with his thumb.
"I can still remember the first thing she said to me, like she said it five minutes ago," he said with a smile.
"What did she say?" Josh asked with a grin.
Cain bit his lip, trying not to smile. "'You can have my cookie.'" He snorted lightly and leaned back on the board. "We were four." Josh looked away to hide his grin. "We were at the Fall festival and a squirrel stole my cookie." Cain nodded once and then shrugged. "And that was it; friends for life."
"Well, you know what they say about friends," Josh said with a wave, pushing himself up. He looked back to Cain and made a face. 'Seriously?'
"Anyway," Cain continued, taking a deep breath. "I was sixteen," he said with a frown. "This new guy showed up from the city and everybody just-" Cain sighed.
"Movie star," Josh supplied and Cain nodded.
"He took a shine to 'dora and I saw green. Red. Purple... And I didn't know why. I mean: it was 'dora..." Cain sighed and glanced toward the beach, then to Josh. "I said some horrible things to her," he said with a frown.
"Well, it couldn't have been that bad," Josh replied, pointing to Cain's hand.
"It was bad," Cain said with a guilty smile. "I got home that night and my mother was waiting on the porch," he said with a nod. Josh groaned and Cain smiled. "I couldn't sit for a week. She then sent me straight to 'dora's. I knew she wouldn't talk to me. And there was no way she'd forgive me. I wouldn’t have forgiven me," he said with a snort. "I didn't even want to knock on the door."
"Afraid her dad would-"
"God, no. Her father was smaller than me." Cain looked at the board and laughed. "Her mother scared the Hell outta me." Josh laughed and cupped some water onto his board to cover a dry spot. "I climbed up the side of the house and sat just outside her window. Actually, I was kinda hopin' she shove me off the roof."
Josh smiled again. "So what did you say?"
Cain turned to Josh and nodded. "Told her the truth. I didn't mean it, I just wanted- I wanted her to look at me the way she was looking at him." Josh threw a glance to the shore and tried not to smile at his friend's pain.
"What did she say?"
Cain tried to fight a smile and looked at Josh. "She was looking at him so I would look at her." Josh threw his head back, laughing, as Cain shrugged and laughed with him. "Two years later, we were married. Two years after that, Jeb was born." Josh waved to shore and Cain nodded; both shifted to paddle back in.
"When did she-" Josh asked, treading carefully. In the nearly three months he'd known Cain, all he really knew that that the man was a widower and had a son his age. He also knew not to push the topic, but figured now was good as Cain had brought it up. Kinda.
"Three years," Cain said with a shrug. He still didn't know exactly when it had happened. "Of course, I hadn't seen them in eight years..." Josh nodded; DG had told him that Cain had been separated from his family due to his work as a cop. Josh's father had died when he was four, so it'd always been just him and his mother.
And the neighbors.
And everyone at the Huntington.
"Josh, if you like this girl, you've got to tell her. She may turn you down," he added as Josh began to protest. "If it's meant to be, you'll know. But, if you don't try..." He shrugged.
"What if she's not the one?" Josh asked with a frown as they reached the beach. He leaned down to unstrap his board from his ankle and looked up to Cain.
Cain reached down to pat josh on the shoulder. "Everybody's got their 'one and only'... You'll find her, Kid." Cain leaned further and unhooked himself.
"What if she's my 'one and only', but I’m not hers?" Cain stood up and gave Josh the eyebrow.
"I don't think it works that way," Cain replied, picking up his board.
"But it's possible," Josh mused, following him.
"Okay," Cain said with a shrug and move up the beach toward the building where he'd gotten the board and the wetsuit.
Josh chased after him and nodded to himself. "It makes sense. No offense to your wife, but it's the only way your theory holds." Cain gave Josh a double-take and wondered if the boy had taken a crack to the head when he hit the water. "Look, let's ignore the mathematical improbability of 'one and only one', because it'll make my head explode," Josh said, shaking his head.
"You want me to believe that you believe there is literally one person in the world I'm meant to be with? Forever." Cain nodded. "You're full of shit," Josh stated, pointing to Cain.
"How?"
"Dee."
"What about DG?" Cain asked with a frown.
"Please," Josh huffed, looking away from Cain. "If you two were any more married... And you don't even see it. Either of you," Josh stated, pointing to Cain before walking away with his board under one arm.
_______
this was much longer than I realized... o.O
Crazy!
...oh, and YES! That there was a fandom-specific reference.
*wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!*