Disclaimer: There are some things I own, but Tin Man is not one of them(unless you count DVDs) Tin Man belongs to Steven L. Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle, and all the other grand high Mucky Mucks of Sci-Fi. No copyright infringement is intended, and of course no money was made from this. Any similarity to any other story not my own is coincidence.
Title: I Think I've Seen this Movie
Genre: AU/Romance/fluff; Dorothy Gale/Wyatt Cain
Rating: PG; rated for some sexual innuendo
Timeline: Sometime after the mini-series
Author's Notes: The movie DG quotes is "To Have and Have Not" Oh, and this is a shameless bit of fluff, so, if you're looking for anything serious, you shall be sorely disappointed. *wry grin*
DG shifted her weight, digging her canvas shod feet into the smooth pebbles of the stream bed before wiggling her toes in the wet confines of blue fabric.
"Cain..." she called back to he man reclining underneath a tall maple growing along the shoreline.
She risked glancing back.
"Cain, I'm not sure I'm doing this right," she confessed, turning her attention back the fly reel in her hand. She flicked out the line inexpertly, making a small face as it fell short of her intended mark.
"Patience, Kiddo," Wyatt encouraged. "Try again."
The princess made another small face but did as the ex-tin man directed. Again, the line fell short and DG made a small sound of dismay.
"Cain..."
He hid the fond smile in his eyes with a downward tilt of his fedora.
"It just takes practice," Cain reassured the princess. "And remember," he offered. "It's all in the wrist."
"In the wrist..." she murmured to herself, casting the line out once more, only to have it fall short. It drifted quickly and haphazardly in her direction, dancing above the eddies of the current until it snagged on a nearby log. "Right... all in the wrist he says..." she echoed in a disappointed drawl.
Slowly, Cain rose to join DG in the stream, water swirling around the waterproof leather of his boots as he made his way to the nearby log snag. Deftly, he freed the green and yellow fly from the soft wood before dropping it lightly into the water and making his way over to the princess. Carefully he stepped behind her.
"Reel in the line," he directed, his breath hot against the curved shell of her ear.
DG smiled to herself and did as he instructed.
"Now..." he drawled, sliding his hands from her shoulders and slowly down her arms. "It really is all in the wrist, Princess," he practically whispered, letting his fingers trip down to a point just above the incongruous lace gloves she wore. His fingertips came to linger over the delicate skin and bones of her wrists, almost, but not quite caressing.
"Let me show you..."
DG laughed lightly and Cain felt it shiver through him as surely as if it had come from his own throat.
"I think I've seen this movie, Tin Man," she told him, though she made no move to free herself from the loose circle of his arms. "Of course, this..." she continued, shifting her hands slightly, "should be a pool cue and not a fishing rod."
Cain smiled a little, not quite catching her odd reference, but amused by her tone nonetheless.
"Well Princess, a fly reel will have to do, since I don't actually know much about playing billiards. But..." Wyatt's fingertips finally did caress the skin beneath them gently as he brought his lips fractionally closer to her ear. "I do know some other very entertaining games and maybe I can teach you those later," he surprised himself by teasing her.
DG laughed lightly, if somewhat breathlessly, even as Wyatt lifted his lips away from her ear.
"Okay now..." the ex-tin man began almost gruffly, still started by the unexpected impulses that DG pulled from him. Wyatt cleared his throat and continued, his voice taking on a gently instructional tone. "First, you have to remember that it's about finding that special balance between knowing when to be in control, and when to let go," he explained, finally grasping her hands with his own.
"Like Zo Ku..." DG suggested, naming the strange martial art form that she had finally convinced Wyatt to begin teaching her just last week.
"Less like Zo Ku and more like the Hiland Ländler," Wyatt replied as he guided her hands in the loose, but precise movements of casting. "You need to think of the river less as an opponent, and more like a partner, moving together..."
"The Ländler?" DG interrupted playfully even as she shamelessly laughed. She tilted her head just enough to catch the ex-tin man's expression out of the corner of her eye. It only made her laugh more.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry," she said, not sounding the least bit repentant. "I just... picturing you dancing... and then..." she explained between small bursts of laughter. "Lederhosen..."
Suddenly, the reel jerked in their hands.
"Cain!" Dorothy cried in surprise and excitement. "Cain!"
"Easy there, Kiddo," he urged as the princess jerked almost roughly on the reel. "Easy, or we'll lose him."
DG nodded and focused a nearly absurd amount of concentration on keeping herself calm. Wyatt smiled to himself, feeling her tension.
"Relax..." He urged her again, sliding his hands from hers and down to her waist, settling his fingers against the silk that was so very inappropriate to fishing, and feeling the corset underneath DG's court dress.
Dorothy nodded, but still held herself tense.
"Give the line a little tug," Wyatt instructed. "Set the hook."
DG bit her bottom lip in concentration and did as he had told her.
The ex-tin man watched the line. "Now... we're going to bring him in. Reel in the line..."
The princess did as Wyatt bid. Then what followed was a series of directions given by Cain and followed by DG. "Let it go a little now... let him play a bit... reel him in a bit more..."
The ex-tin man had to admit to himself that it felt a bit odd to have the princess so receptive to his direction. Unbidden, the image of her doing so in a more intimate fashion made Wyatt's grip on DG's waist tighten. Startled when he realized it, Cain nearly let go and he felt the princess wobble in between his arms.
"Whoa..." Dorothy gasped a little, regaining her balance. "Everything okay there Tin Man?"
"Sorry," he nearly mumbled. Then he saw the fish as it pulled against the line, leaping, his rainbow scales glittering with water and sunlight.
"Cain!"
"I see him, Kiddo. Keep reeling in the line, you almost have him."
DG bounced on her feet, nearly jumping as she pulled the fish closer.
"Easy... easy..."
"I'm doing it!"
"Easy there, Kiddo."
Now the princess was lifting herself on wet, canvas covered toes.
"Easy..." Wyatt urged one last time, even as he felt DG's balance shift. He held her waist tight and grabbed for the reel in what he was certain was an almost futile gesture. Together they tumbled into the cool water with an ungainly splash. Several things happened at once. The line snapped with an audible snick, DG cried out in shivering surprise, and Wyatt's fedora fell from his head to be caught in the laughing rush of water.
"Oh!" Dorothy exclaimed.
"DG..." Wyatt just groaned. He watched his hat float away, knowing that it was lost. He sighed and got up before offering the princess a free hand, his other holding his wet reel.
DG smiled sheepishly and let the ex-tin man pull her to his feet before slogging back to shore after him.
"I'm sorry about your hat Cain."
"At least I still have my reel," he half-mumbled. "And I suppose I can always get a new hat," he conceded as graciously as he could. Then he noticed that, despite the warmth of the bright spring day, DG was shivering in her ruined silken gown.
"Blessed Lurline..."
Wyatt set down his reel and walked over the tree where he had left his duster. He picked up the sun warmed garment and walked back to DG to drape it over her shoulders.
"But what are you going to do, you're wet too," she protested.
Cain shrugged, "It's not too bad, I'll be okay. But we need to get you back to the palace."
DG nodded and looked down to her ruined dress with a mournfully rueful expression.
"Az is going to kill me," she moaned. "I'm supposed to wear this stupid thing for tea today. So I finally look like a real princess and not some silly munchkin scarecrow."
Cain suppressed a smile at DG's slyly accurate impression of her sister.
"I should have said no. You do have the damnedest way of getting me to agree to things," he said instead, referring to his agreement to let her try her hand at fishing.
DG smiled unashamedly and Wyatt found himself returning the smile a bit helplessly, letting himself silently enjoy the sight of Dorothy's dress clinging to her curves, now that he was certain she wasn't going to suffer any ill effects from her dunking. His smile faltered a little though when he saw the princess' turn wickedly mischievous quite suddenly.
"So..." she drawled, stepping into his space before he had quite realized it. "Then you really wouldn't mind teaching me some of those entertaining games you mentioned?"
Wyatt flushed. "I didn't mean... that is, that's not... I shouldn't have..." he sputtered.
"What are you trying to say Tin Man?" DG whispered lifting herself up on her toes and bracing her hands against his chest, feeling his heart race and his muscles tense under the wet fabric. Boldly, she brushed her lips against his, undeterred when he made no other response but to hold himself still.
"Princess..." he said in as quelling a tone as he could manage, which, if he were being honest with himself, wasn't exactly quelling at all.
"Yes?"
"DG you need..."
"To kiss you again," she interrupted blithely, and did just that.
"DG..."
"I think you should kiss me back Cain."
And this time, when Dorothy brushed her lips over his, he murmured, "Yes..."
"It's even better when you help," DG drawled in a strange little voice and laughed at Cain's expression. "Well, it worked for Becall," she said.
The ex-tin man shook his head, clearly a bit perplexed.
"Never mind Tin Man," Dorothy laughed before kissing him again.
"The damnedest way..." Wyatt murmured without any heat, and somehow managed to seem pleased even as his tone sounded resigned. Then, with a smile he kissed her...
FIN