Once in a Lullabye
Title: Once in a Lullabye
Rating: White Cortina
Pairing: Sam/Gene (ish)
Word Count/Length: 499
Notes: Unbeta'ed - inspired by this divine little fic from gritsinmisery
Summary: A tasty little bit of fluff: our characters as seen through the filter of another famous story, from which the tv series obviously drew much inspiration. If no one has done this fic already, I will be astounded.
Sam stepped up to the massive double doors. Like everything else in this place, they were an ornate emerald green, and oddly translucent.
"Go on then, Boss," the Scarecrow urged, a skinny straw-covered arm reaching out to prod him forward. "We've come all this way."
"Aye," the Cowardly Lion agreed, tugging nervously at his sandy blond moustache. "Don't want to keep him waiting. Heard he's got a rotten temper, an' all."
"I can't believe it," the Tin Woman said, tears sliding down her shapely metal cheeks. "We made it. We're actually here."
Sam took a deep breath. The journey down the Yellow Brick Road had been a long and difficult one, but they had arrived at last. The Wizard would give them each what they longed for: DC Scarecrow's brain, DS Cowardly Lion's courage, and WPC Tin Woman's heart. And for him...a way back. With the Wizard's help, he could finally go home.
Summoning all his courage, Sam pushed open the doors.
A thunderous, ground-shaking noise emanated from the chamber within: a harsh, tuberculonic cacophany like mountains crumbling under the heavings of the earth's crust. DS Cowardly Lion began to tremble.
After an eternity, the Wizard finally finished clearing his throat. His huge camel coat swished dramatically around him as he turned to face the newcomers. His squinty gaze swept over them all, as though ticking off a mental checklist - Scarecrow, Tin Woman, Cowardly Lion - and then his steely blue eyes fell on Sam. He grunted.
"Alright, Dorothy? You took your bloody time."
Sam's eyes snapped open. He sat up...he was in his flat. The television across from him showed a black and white picture of a little girl sitting up in bed, in almost exactly the same position as he was now. It was the final scene of a familiar movie:
"Oh, but it wasn't a dream - it was a place! And you...and you...and you...and you were there. But you couldn't have been, could you?"
Sam groaned. Fragments of his dream came back as he rubbed his eyes to clear his head. That was the last time he split a party seven with the Guv right before bedtime.
He leaned back on the mattress, flopping an arm over his eyes. Where was a pair of ruby slippers when he needed them? He felt himself slipping gradually back to sleep...and even though he knew it probably wouldn't work, he tapped his feet together three times and muttered five words under his breath, over and over. Like a mantra. Just in case.
"There's no place like home...there's no place like home...there's no place like home..."
Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the Wizard chuckling.
Q
and they all lived happily ever after