TinMan Fic: Land of the Living, PG
Title: Land of the Living
Author: jennukes
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: DG, Cain; slight DG/Cain
Spoilers: All Three Parts of Tin Man
Warnings: None
Summary: The corners of Cain's mouth turn up just slightly. Leave it to DG to get caught up on that word.
Disclaimer: Bugger it all, I still don't own any of it.
Author's Notes: Thanks to a girl's best betas, squeelated and pixie_on_acid and caroly_214. There is no story without them. The title is the title to a Pam Tillis song. The chorus and second verse fit these two like a glove - Just hurry back to the land of the living. Things have changed since you've been gone. The world is turning in the land of the living. Take a deep breath, life goes on. Come down from that dark cloud, what's done is done. Don't you go on believing you're the only one that ever felt heartache turn to regret. We've all got something we'd like to forget.
DG stands on her balcony, staring out over the O.Z., but not seeing any of the twilit beauty. She is lost in thought about her life on the Other Side. What she misses, things she wishes she still had. People she thought she'd miss, but really doesn't.
She is so deep in her surprising thoughts, she never hears him enter or come out onto the balcony with her until he speaks her title.
She screams, pivots, and drops into a fighting stance he's taught her. Once she registers who it is, she rolls her eyes, standing straight again.
"Jesus, Cain! Give me a heart attack, why don't you? Didn't I ask you not to sneak up on me? One day I am gonna jump off the balcony because you scared the crap out of me."
Cain ignores her words, is pleased at her stance, and only asks, "What were you thinking about, Prin… DG?" It's the look in her eyes that has him calling her DG.
"The Other Side." She goes back to staring out at the increasingly familiar landscape. "The things I miss are surprising. I thought I'd miss more important things, I guess. I wish I had my art supplies and portfolio and my motorcycle, but really, there isn't much. I guess I always knew Kansas was never home. I never fit in there. Never felt like I belonged. But I guess there was a reason for that." She sighs. "Still, I wish I could go back."
"What?" Cain is shocked. He knows she's having issues with being a Princess, but to want to return to the Other Side, he never suspected that.
"Oh, no! Not to stay there!" DG turns to face him and realizes the misconception she's created. "Just to say goodbye, pick up a few things and settle that part of my life, I guess. No, I know I belong in the O.Z. I just wish I had been able to say goodbye to that part of my life or something. I don't know. It's just confusing to go from one thing for years and years…" She trails off on a sigh. It isn't years here. "Annuals. I spent fifteen ye-annuals there and that's three times as long as I spent in the O.Z. I can't just forget that. And sometimes it feels like everyone expects me to. Like everyone expects me to be this little princess from the past who went from 5 annuals old to almost 21 at the snap of someone's fingers, without any of the intervening years. That I should know everything about the O.Z. and royal protocols and just everything. On the Other Side, life was easier for me. No one expected much. The world didn't freak out when I did something wrong… like I always end up doing."
Cain isn't really sure what to say to her, but he speaks anyway because he understands what she's going through in his own way. "It gets easier as time passes, DG. It may not seem like it now, but it will. You'll compromise with your parents. You'll make them see the woman you are, and that woman will learn to be a little more comfortable in her role as a Princess. It's only been a short time since the witch was defeated and things settled down in the O.Z. Now you need some time to settle things with your family."
DG turns to look at him, surprised at his words. "You called me a woman, not a kid."
The corners of Cain's mouth turn up just slightly. Leave it to DG to get caught up on that word. "See? Things are changing already." He isn't ever going to tell her he'd never truly thought of her as a child. A child would have never charged down a hill armed with only a stick against heavily armed Longcoats to save a family she'd never met.
DG elbows him in the stomach and smiles softly.
She wants to ask why he thinks time will help, when it dawns on her he's going through the same thing - eight years…annuals in a Tin Suit and now this new world. She's mulling over this new thought when he speaks again.
"Did you ask your parents?"
"About what?" She's not following his words at all and wonders if this is how he feels when she makes references to the Other Side.
"About going back and getting some of your stuff?"
"Like you'd ever let me go back there, Tin Man." DG shoots him a look with a raised eyebrow. She's gotten good at copying his looks and using them back at him.
"Well, okay, asking your parents if someone could go back and get some of your things? It won't be the same as going back yourself, but maybe some of those things you miss might be found."
It's an idea, one she'll have to think on before she broaches it with Mother and Father.
"Sometimes, Cain, you amaze me. And I love that." DG reaches up and hugs him with a smile, happier than she was before he startled her.
"You keep me on my toes, Princess, just returning the favor." There is a definite smirk on his face now, as he returns the hug.
She releases him quickly, knowing too well that Cain isn't one for hugs, and turns back to watching the twilit landscape, actually seeing it this time. Cain stands silently next to her. There is a content feeling that radiates from both of them; neither is willing to question it… yet.
Author: jennukes
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: DG, Cain; slight DG/Cain
Spoilers: All Three Parts of Tin Man
Warnings: None
Summary: The corners of Cain's mouth turn up just slightly. Leave it to DG to get caught up on that word.
Disclaimer: Bugger it all, I still don't own any of it.
Author's Notes: Thanks to a girl's best betas, squeelated and pixie_on_acid and caroly_214. There is no story without them. The title is the title to a Pam Tillis song. The chorus and second verse fit these two like a glove - Just hurry back to the land of the living. Things have changed since you've been gone. The world is turning in the land of the living. Take a deep breath, life goes on. Come down from that dark cloud, what's done is done. Don't you go on believing you're the only one that ever felt heartache turn to regret. We've all got something we'd like to forget.
DG stands on her balcony, staring out over the O.Z., but not seeing any of the twilit beauty. She is lost in thought about her life on the Other Side. What she misses, things she wishes she still had. People she thought she'd miss, but really doesn't.
She is so deep in her surprising thoughts, she never hears him enter or come out onto the balcony with her until he speaks her title.
She screams, pivots, and drops into a fighting stance he's taught her. Once she registers who it is, she rolls her eyes, standing straight again.
"Jesus, Cain! Give me a heart attack, why don't you? Didn't I ask you not to sneak up on me? One day I am gonna jump off the balcony because you scared the crap out of me."
Cain ignores her words, is pleased at her stance, and only asks, "What were you thinking about, Prin… DG?" It's the look in her eyes that has him calling her DG.
"The Other Side." She goes back to staring out at the increasingly familiar landscape. "The things I miss are surprising. I thought I'd miss more important things, I guess. I wish I had my art supplies and portfolio and my motorcycle, but really, there isn't much. I guess I always knew Kansas was never home. I never fit in there. Never felt like I belonged. But I guess there was a reason for that." She sighs. "Still, I wish I could go back."
"What?" Cain is shocked. He knows she's having issues with being a Princess, but to want to return to the Other Side, he never suspected that.
"Oh, no! Not to stay there!" DG turns to face him and realizes the misconception she's created. "Just to say goodbye, pick up a few things and settle that part of my life, I guess. No, I know I belong in the O.Z. I just wish I had been able to say goodbye to that part of my life or something. I don't know. It's just confusing to go from one thing for years and years…" She trails off on a sigh. It isn't years here. "Annuals. I spent fifteen ye-annuals there and that's three times as long as I spent in the O.Z. I can't just forget that. And sometimes it feels like everyone expects me to. Like everyone expects me to be this little princess from the past who went from 5 annuals old to almost 21 at the snap of someone's fingers, without any of the intervening years. That I should know everything about the O.Z. and royal protocols and just everything. On the Other Side, life was easier for me. No one expected much. The world didn't freak out when I did something wrong… like I always end up doing."
Cain isn't really sure what to say to her, but he speaks anyway because he understands what she's going through in his own way. "It gets easier as time passes, DG. It may not seem like it now, but it will. You'll compromise with your parents. You'll make them see the woman you are, and that woman will learn to be a little more comfortable in her role as a Princess. It's only been a short time since the witch was defeated and things settled down in the O.Z. Now you need some time to settle things with your family."
DG turns to look at him, surprised at his words. "You called me a woman, not a kid."
The corners of Cain's mouth turn up just slightly. Leave it to DG to get caught up on that word. "See? Things are changing already." He isn't ever going to tell her he'd never truly thought of her as a child. A child would have never charged down a hill armed with only a stick against heavily armed Longcoats to save a family she'd never met.
DG elbows him in the stomach and smiles softly.
She wants to ask why he thinks time will help, when it dawns on her he's going through the same thing - eight years…annuals in a Tin Suit and now this new world. She's mulling over this new thought when he speaks again.
"Did you ask your parents?"
"About what?" She's not following his words at all and wonders if this is how he feels when she makes references to the Other Side.
"About going back and getting some of your stuff?"
"Like you'd ever let me go back there, Tin Man." DG shoots him a look with a raised eyebrow. She's gotten good at copying his looks and using them back at him.
"Well, okay, asking your parents if someone could go back and get some of your things? It won't be the same as going back yourself, but maybe some of those things you miss might be found."
It's an idea, one she'll have to think on before she broaches it with Mother and Father.
"Sometimes, Cain, you amaze me. And I love that." DG reaches up and hugs him with a smile, happier than she was before he startled her.
"You keep me on my toes, Princess, just returning the favor." There is a definite smirk on his face now, as he returns the hug.
She releases him quickly, knowing too well that Cain isn't one for hugs, and turns back to watching the twilit landscape, actually seeing it this time. Cain stands silently next to her. There is a content feeling that radiates from both of them; neither is willing to question it… yet.