TM Fic: Five Times Cain Woke Up Next To DG
Title: Five Times Cain Woke Up Next To DG
Author: Trystan
Spoilers: entire series - might be slightly AU for during the series
Rating: R for adult themes
Warnings: angst. (no, seriously)
Pairings: Cain/DG
Word Count: 3,448
Notable Credits: thanks to allronix1 for the first time; and thanks to my awesome beta readers, strangevisitor7, aphrodite33, bodgei, magickboxgirl, and raloria. Cain is not mine, although goddess knows I wish he was.
Author’s Notes: damn voices.... again! and this is my first "Five Times" fic, so it might be... different. also, since I’ve been reading more Tin Man fanfic than is good for me, some themes may have come from fanon, not canon. My apologies if I borrowed your thoughts and you didn’t want me to.
Summary: Four times Cain woke up next to DG and one time he almost did.
Five Times Cain Woke Up Next To DG
I. Revenge
He remembered the sunlight, even though the suns were setting. It hurt. He staggered around, staring blankly at two faces he’d never seen before. The man had unruly dark brown - or was it black? - hair, and a zipper on his head. Must have been a headcase, a criminal. Great. He wore a tan tattered coat that could have been regal at some point, but now was falling apart. The girl wore a short leather coat, a white shirt, and pants made of some blue fabric. She had long dark hair and large blue eyes.
But he didn’t really see them. All he could see, over and over in his mind, was Adora. Oh gods, Adora! He’d watched it replayed on the time-loop holographic projection for - how long had he been in that ... thing?
Mechanically, he shaved and cut his straggly hair. Just going through the motions, that was all. He looked around for familiar sites, and thought he recognized a tree that he’d had to have planted at least eight annuals ago. It was still young as far as trees go, but to Wyatt Cain, former Tin Man and a leader in the Resistance, it was a lifetime.
Where was his family? Alive? Dead? He had to find them.
He took in a deep breath of the clean fresh air. When he started to sway, the girl was there to help him stand. Who was she? Why was she doing this for him? She guided him into the house, where he sank heavily onto a chair that was by the door.
His rescuers sat with him. He sifted through his numb mind to come up with something, anything. He was still processing the fact that he was free - free to go after the man who tortured his wife and son, and tortured his soul.
When he started nodding off, the odd man and woman helped him to the big bed in the back room. He fell on the bed, fully clothed, and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
They were beating his wife, his Adora. He couldn’t save her. First he was held by the men beating her, and then he had to endure the sight over and over and over.... He couldn’t bear it. Now the men were beating his son. Jeb! He silently cried out against that metal prison. The anger, the rage - all welled up inside, ready for the day they’d simply explode.
The leader, Zero, reached out and tried to caress Adora’s wounded face. She spat at him. He leaned in to tell her something, and she slapped his cheek, drawing blood where her ring hit his face. Zero’s hands clenched and unclenched, and without warning, he reached out and grabbed her from the men who held her. He snapped her neck like a twig, and dropped her to the ground like a heavy sack.
Cain woke and sat up on the bed with a gasp, a very human and emotional reaction. It was light out again, and by this morning, he was used to the sunlight.
Something caught his eye, and he turned back to look at the bed. The girl was curled up on the other side of the bed, asleep. She looked much younger than her - what? 20 annuals? - as she lay there, sleeping peacefully.
He again wondered who she was, but steeled his heart against anything other than the need for revenge. He went to a special place against the house, from where he retrieved a box with his gun and holster. He strapped them on, and picked up a little wooden horse Jeb had made. A tear threatened to break free, but he held it back. No, no tears. Not yet. The last thing he took out of the box was his star shield, a badge of his Tin Man designation.
The girl had introduced herself as DG yesterday. What the hell kind of name was that? She said she was looking for her parents, and rambled off a few other things. But even though their language was the same, he had no idea what the words were.
Since he was going to Central City to hunt Zero, he told the girl and the headcase - who kept insisting he was someone important and then forgetting who at the crucial moment - that they could follow behind him. He still thought she would cut and run at the first sign of trouble.
For a brief moment, he wanted to rethink that. But Tin Men weren’t supposed to have compassionate hearts.
II. On the Road
The Mystic Man made Cain promise not to let her out of his sight. DG. Princess DG. Cain sighed, and followed after them. They were a rag-tag group: a Princess with magically-locked memories, a headcase who still believed he was the Queen’s Adviser, a Viewer who seemed to be very unsure of himself, and a shapeshifter DogMan.
He’d cried when he saw Adora’s grave. Wept like a baby. He felt DG’s hand on his shoulder. And he still wondered why she should care and feel so much for someone she barely knew. Was that part of her magic too?
By the time it started getting too dark to see on the tree-lined path, they were only a few hours away from their destination. Finaqua was a lush paradise before Azkadellia’s forces destroyed it, and disguised it with a dead-looking magical forest. DG kept muttering things about water, and that it felt like a safe place. He could have scoffed. Finaqua hadn’t been like that for about 15 annuals. Wait a minute.... he thought, his brain suddenly working out the timeline of where Finaqua fit into Azkadellia’s plans.
“We make camp here,” he announced to the group, and turned off the path into the trees. The others wearily followed.
Cain allowed for a small fire so there would still be some warmth, but he didn’t trust anyone. Even the most inconspicuous little thing could be magically enchanted to tell Azkadellia their location.
By full dark, Raw, the Viewer, and Tutor, the shape-changer who’d guided them out of Azkadellia’s fortress prison, slept leaning against trees near the fire. Glitch flopped down on the ground right in front of the fire, put his head on his arms, and fell asleep just like a little kid.
The kid, he noted, was still awake. She stood against a tree, looking out along their current path.
“Thank you, Mr. Cain,” she said when she saw him.
“What for?” Damn, that sounded a little too curt even to his own ears. But she seemed not to have heard it.
“For just being here. For being you.”
“Ohh-kaay,” he said, drawing out the word. He watched her, as she took in everything around them. She cocked her head, listening to the sounds of the night.
“You should get some sleep, Princess,” he said, turning back to the spot he’d marked out for his shut-eye.
“It's ‘DG’,” she said, reminding him yet again with a smile.
“Good night, then, DG,” he said. He went back into the trees, took off his duster, and leaned against the tree that he’d found. From this location, he could keep an eye on everyone, and see if there was anyone approaching from the path in either direction. He adjusted his position, and kept watch until his eyes drooped closed.
When he woke to the rays of one of the suns in his eyes, he mentally kicked himself for sleeping so soundly and not posting a second watch. The Gods only knew what could have happened.
Through his sleep-filled eyes, still wanting to savor the warmth of sleep, he gazed over the camp. Raw and Tutor were still sleeping against their trees, and Glitch was still soundly sleeping in front of where the fire had been. Instantly he became alert. Where was DG?
He had his answer a short moment later when he looked to his left, and curled up against him, was DG, sleeping on his duster. Her breathing was soft and deep, and he hated to have to wake her. Her hair had fallen across her face, and he tenderly moved it out of the way.
He was reminded of the first morning he’d woken up to see her next to him. Could someone’s heart change in such short time?
III. Tryst
In the many months following the Double Eclipse and Azkadellia’s release from the evil witch, a great deal of work was done to restore peace and harmony to the O.Z. The Queen and her Consort had reinstated the Tin Men, and Wyatt Cain was offered a new position - in charge of all the various units throughout the O.Z.. He accepted, but with the one stipulation that he would be based at the Royal Palace.
All were in agreement, and Cain allowed himself a small smile. Outwardly, Tin Men shouldn’t show emotion, but inwardly, Cain knew he’d wanted to remain at the Palace because of DG. She’d helped him realize he still had a heart, and a good one at that. And over those months, he’d grown close to his Princess.
There were many factions of Longcoats who remained loyal to the old Sorceress, as well as many other threats to the royal family. Cain was constantly on high alert as he struggled to refill the ranks with men loyal to the Queen. The Royal Palace had their own detail of Tin Men that Cain had hand-picked, one being his son, Jeb.
He assigned his best man, Rhys, to shadow DG. Rhys was to make sure she never knew he was there. Cain knew he should do it himself, but there were times that could possibly prove distracting. As it was, he found himself thinking more about her smile and her laugh rather than getting any work done.
The times that they did see each other were well-spent. If you could call her telling him about all the pleasures she’d missed from the Other Side “well-spent.” She told him about TV, DVDs, mp3s, the internet; chocolate, as she emphasized it. He found he could understand most of what she talked about, but there were just some things (the whole concept of flying being one of them) he would just never be able to figure out.
He loved her smile and her laugh, but mostly it was her compassion, and her never-wavering loyalty to her friends. And unless he was reading her wrong, she was beginning to think of him as more than just a friend. He also knew he would have to do some serious searching through a soul that had loved, lost, and been torn apart almost irreparably; and was now held together by new, tenuous strings. Could he do it?
The hour drew late that night, and he finally retired to his bed in his suite of rooms he’d been given at the Royal Palace. The thoughts of his day kept him awake well into the night, and he found he needed to once again acclimate himself to sleeping on a bed. His duster was on a coat stand by the main door to his rooms, but he hung his hat and gun holster on one of the top bedposts.
It was full dark outside his window. A faint noise in his outer rooms caused him to go still. He sat up in bed, and wearing only a pair of his shorts, slid the gun from its leather case and silently readied it.
Holding the gun in front of him, he nudged his door open to peer out into the darkness. There was a figure sitting on his couch, just sitting, waiting for him. It was DG. How in the blazes...?
He placed the gun on the nightstand next to his bed, and went out to her. In the light of the moon that was peaking in through the drapes, he could see she was wearing only an over-sized shirt. And it looked ... familiar, he realized.
“How did you get here?” he quietly demanded. Someone hearing voices this late was bound to be suspicious.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said, drawing her feet up on the couch and resting her chin on her knees.
“So you wander around the palace in your bare feet, and... and my shirt?” he asked in a rough whisper.
“I didn’t wander,” she said, smiling at him. “I knew exactly where I was going.”
He was silent a moment, wondering how to mention Rhys to her. But he was saved that trouble.
“You can also tell your shadow I know he’s there,” she said.
He started at her words. He’d told Rhys that DG was never to know he was there. Cain would need to reassign Rhys, but that could wait until the morning. In the meantime, his very distraction was now right in front of him, wearing just his shirt as far as he could tell.
Cain changed his question to get the answer he wanted out of her.
“Ok, why are you here?” he asked, sitting on the other end of the couch.
“I .... I don’t know,” she said. She looked down at her toes.
“Deeg,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.”
“You have my shirt,” he said.
“I know,” she smiled coyly up at him.
In the next instant, he was at her side, his hand caressing her cheek. He leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers. He was relieved when she responded with a kiss of her own. Her arms went around him and pulled him closer.
A rational part of his mind forced him to break the kiss and straighten up for the moment.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. She nodded, her eyes wide.
“I don’t know how far this will go,” he cautioned.
“It’s ok,” she said. “I’m a big girl, I know what happens when a man and a woman - ” He cut her off with a kiss. She squeaked in surprise, but returned his kiss, and then allowed herself to be picked up and carried into the bedroom.
He’d discovered exactly what she’d been wearing under his shirt, and she nearly died of pleasure when he took off her panties. That night, they learned about each other on the most intimate level, making love as well as sharing thoughts. And sometime during those wee hours, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Dawn was just making the horizon pink with the tinges of the first sun’s rays when a movement woke him. Eyes still closed, he reached over to the other side of the bed, but even though the bed was still warm, she wasn’t there. He opened his eyes in time to see his own door close, and then heard his main door close softly beyond.
He rolled back on to his pillows, and allowed himself a rare smile.
Later that morning, when Rhys checked in, he reported that the Princess DG remained asleep in her bed all night, until just about an hour ago.
Cain decided not to reassign Rhys just yet.
IV. Nightmare
DG had a bad habit of sneaking out of her rooms at night to stay with Cain. If anyone noticed, they were too discreet to even pass on gossip. Which is how Cain realized that no one did know about it - he’d heard no such gossip about the Princess and her Tin Man.
He looked forward to the nights she’d spend with him, but he understood if she couldn’t figure out how to slip past Rhys. Unless she’d somehow conned Rhys into saying she was in her room all night.
There were the two nights weekly when Rhys was not posted at her door; Cain had simply assigned those nights to himself. And DG would agree - he did an excellent job of keeping watch over her.
That day, it had started out rather oddly: a band of renegade Longcoats thought they could launch an attack on the royal palace. But since they were quite disorganized, it was an easy task to disarm and imprison all six of them.
There were various scuffles that day that he was dispatching men to, or found himself riding out to handle. By that evening meal, he was downright exhausted. From his seat next to her, he smiled as she talked and laughed with her parents and her sister, and Glitch - silly Ambrose insisted on keeping the name.
Before the meal was over, he had to apologize to the Queen, her Consort, and the Princesses - especially DG who tried to pull her pouting trick - and retire to his rooms. He took off his gun and holster and hat, and put them on the familiar bedpost. He pulled off his boots, stretched out on the bed, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.
It was a familiar scene, one he never again wished to relive, but it was something that would not simply just “go away” either.
Zero had dragged him out of the house, and was beating and punching him while other Longcoats restrained him. And while he was down, they brought his wife outside and made her watch, and punched her when she didn’t. But there seemed to be something different about the nightmare this time - he couldn’t see her face.
He could no longer tell what he was screaming - it could have been her name - as the Longcoats forced him into the metal prison and watch Zero try to “console” his wife. He banged on the inside of the suit, needing to get out, to be with her, all the anger and rage surfacing again. Zero touched her cheek, and she spat at him.
It was only a nightmare, he tried to convince himself, he wasn’t really trapped in that box again. He summoned all his strength, channeled his emotions, and flung open the tin box with such a force that he nearly fell. He saw her in Zero’s grasp, and rushed towards them, remembering from nightmares past what was about to happen.
But the dream continued to play out, and Zero callously broke her neck and dropped her to the ground. With maniacal laughter, Zero disappeared from the dreamscape.
He dropped to his knees with a gut-wrenching yell next to where she fell, the tears flowing freely. Tin Men weren’t supposed to show such emotion, but he was beyond caring.
He gathered her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. His DG.
It was the rocking motion that woke him. He sat up in bed, hating the disorientation that assailed him. He looked around, and sighed in relief at the familiar surroundings. It was only a nightmare. Only, he scoffed the word in his head. He felt an odd sensation on his cheeks, and found they were ...wet. What in the name of the Grey Gale - he’d been crying?
He turned back and looked at the bed. On the other side, DG was asleep, her head resting on her hands. There was something odd about how she slept, and after a moment, Cain recognized what it was.
She’d been watching him during his nightmare.
He watched her now, the slow steady breaths, her long lashes, her soft lips, her long hair draped over her cheek. She was wearing his shirt again, he noticed, and smiled. He reached out and tenderly moved the dark hair away from her face. She stirred, stretched out, and opened her eyes.
“Cain?” she asked, her voice heavy with sleep. Then she sat bolt upright. “Oh my god, Wyatt, are you all right? You were having the worst nightmare, and I tried to wake you but I just couldn’t and then you seemed to be all right, so i just put my head down on the pillow for just a moment, and....” she stopped then and looked at him in the dark room. She could have sworn he was smiling at her. He drew her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m much better now,” he said. “Thank you.”
She looked up at him with her wide eyes, and he kissed her tenderly.
Their lovemaking that night was slow and tender, as well as healing. When they were finally sated, she snuggled against him, her back pressed up against his chest, and she could feel his heart beating against her. He wrapped his arm around her, pressed his body against hers, and drew her close to him. When he finally slept again, there were no more nightmares.
V. Ever After
She was still there when he woke in the morning.
***
Tin Man Fan Fiction
For entertainment only
© 2008 by Caren Franco
Only is Rhys original. Beta-read by Aphrodite, Bodge, MagickBoxGirl, Raloria, and StrangeVisitor. DG, Wyatt, Adora and Jeb Cain, Glitch/Ambrose, Zero, The Mystic Man, Raw, Tutor, Finaqua, Azkadellia, Central City and the O. Z. were created by Steven Long Mitchell, Craig Van Sickle, Nick Willing, Robert Halmi, Sr., Robert Halmi, Jr., Imagiquest Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, and the Sci-Fi Channel; inspired by L. Frank Baum.
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Author: Trystan
Spoilers: entire series - might be slightly AU for during the series
Rating: R for adult themes
Warnings: angst. (no, seriously)
Pairings: Cain/DG
Word Count: 3,448
Notable Credits: thanks to allronix1 for the first time; and thanks to my awesome beta readers, strangevisitor7, aphrodite33, bodgei, magickboxgirl, and raloria. Cain is not mine, although goddess knows I wish he was.
Author’s Notes: damn voices.... again! and this is my first "Five Times" fic, so it might be... different. also, since I’ve been reading more Tin Man fanfic than is good for me, some themes may have come from fanon, not canon. My apologies if I borrowed your thoughts and you didn’t want me to.
Summary: Four times Cain woke up next to DG and one time he almost did.
Five Times Cain Woke Up Next To DG
I. Revenge
He remembered the sunlight, even though the suns were setting. It hurt. He staggered around, staring blankly at two faces he’d never seen before. The man had unruly dark brown - or was it black? - hair, and a zipper on his head. Must have been a headcase, a criminal. Great. He wore a tan tattered coat that could have been regal at some point, but now was falling apart. The girl wore a short leather coat, a white shirt, and pants made of some blue fabric. She had long dark hair and large blue eyes.
But he didn’t really see them. All he could see, over and over in his mind, was Adora. Oh gods, Adora! He’d watched it replayed on the time-loop holographic projection for - how long had he been in that ... thing?
Mechanically, he shaved and cut his straggly hair. Just going through the motions, that was all. He looked around for familiar sites, and thought he recognized a tree that he’d had to have planted at least eight annuals ago. It was still young as far as trees go, but to Wyatt Cain, former Tin Man and a leader in the Resistance, it was a lifetime.
Where was his family? Alive? Dead? He had to find them.
He took in a deep breath of the clean fresh air. When he started to sway, the girl was there to help him stand. Who was she? Why was she doing this for him? She guided him into the house, where he sank heavily onto a chair that was by the door.
His rescuers sat with him. He sifted through his numb mind to come up with something, anything. He was still processing the fact that he was free - free to go after the man who tortured his wife and son, and tortured his soul.
When he started nodding off, the odd man and woman helped him to the big bed in the back room. He fell on the bed, fully clothed, and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
They were beating his wife, his Adora. He couldn’t save her. First he was held by the men beating her, and then he had to endure the sight over and over and over.... He couldn’t bear it. Now the men were beating his son. Jeb! He silently cried out against that metal prison. The anger, the rage - all welled up inside, ready for the day they’d simply explode.
The leader, Zero, reached out and tried to caress Adora’s wounded face. She spat at him. He leaned in to tell her something, and she slapped his cheek, drawing blood where her ring hit his face. Zero’s hands clenched and unclenched, and without warning, he reached out and grabbed her from the men who held her. He snapped her neck like a twig, and dropped her to the ground like a heavy sack.
Cain woke and sat up on the bed with a gasp, a very human and emotional reaction. It was light out again, and by this morning, he was used to the sunlight.
Something caught his eye, and he turned back to look at the bed. The girl was curled up on the other side of the bed, asleep. She looked much younger than her - what? 20 annuals? - as she lay there, sleeping peacefully.
He again wondered who she was, but steeled his heart against anything other than the need for revenge. He went to a special place against the house, from where he retrieved a box with his gun and holster. He strapped them on, and picked up a little wooden horse Jeb had made. A tear threatened to break free, but he held it back. No, no tears. Not yet. The last thing he took out of the box was his star shield, a badge of his Tin Man designation.
The girl had introduced herself as DG yesterday. What the hell kind of name was that? She said she was looking for her parents, and rambled off a few other things. But even though their language was the same, he had no idea what the words were.
Since he was going to Central City to hunt Zero, he told the girl and the headcase - who kept insisting he was someone important and then forgetting who at the crucial moment - that they could follow behind him. He still thought she would cut and run at the first sign of trouble.
For a brief moment, he wanted to rethink that. But Tin Men weren’t supposed to have compassionate hearts.
II. On the Road
The Mystic Man made Cain promise not to let her out of his sight. DG. Princess DG. Cain sighed, and followed after them. They were a rag-tag group: a Princess with magically-locked memories, a headcase who still believed he was the Queen’s Adviser, a Viewer who seemed to be very unsure of himself, and a shapeshifter DogMan.
He’d cried when he saw Adora’s grave. Wept like a baby. He felt DG’s hand on his shoulder. And he still wondered why she should care and feel so much for someone she barely knew. Was that part of her magic too?
By the time it started getting too dark to see on the tree-lined path, they were only a few hours away from their destination. Finaqua was a lush paradise before Azkadellia’s forces destroyed it, and disguised it with a dead-looking magical forest. DG kept muttering things about water, and that it felt like a safe place. He could have scoffed. Finaqua hadn’t been like that for about 15 annuals. Wait a minute.... he thought, his brain suddenly working out the timeline of where Finaqua fit into Azkadellia’s plans.
“We make camp here,” he announced to the group, and turned off the path into the trees. The others wearily followed.
Cain allowed for a small fire so there would still be some warmth, but he didn’t trust anyone. Even the most inconspicuous little thing could be magically enchanted to tell Azkadellia their location.
By full dark, Raw, the Viewer, and Tutor, the shape-changer who’d guided them out of Azkadellia’s fortress prison, slept leaning against trees near the fire. Glitch flopped down on the ground right in front of the fire, put his head on his arms, and fell asleep just like a little kid.
The kid, he noted, was still awake. She stood against a tree, looking out along their current path.
“Thank you, Mr. Cain,” she said when she saw him.
“What for?” Damn, that sounded a little too curt even to his own ears. But she seemed not to have heard it.
“For just being here. For being you.”
“Ohh-kaay,” he said, drawing out the word. He watched her, as she took in everything around them. She cocked her head, listening to the sounds of the night.
“You should get some sleep, Princess,” he said, turning back to the spot he’d marked out for his shut-eye.
“It's ‘DG’,” she said, reminding him yet again with a smile.
“Good night, then, DG,” he said. He went back into the trees, took off his duster, and leaned against the tree that he’d found. From this location, he could keep an eye on everyone, and see if there was anyone approaching from the path in either direction. He adjusted his position, and kept watch until his eyes drooped closed.
When he woke to the rays of one of the suns in his eyes, he mentally kicked himself for sleeping so soundly and not posting a second watch. The Gods only knew what could have happened.
Through his sleep-filled eyes, still wanting to savor the warmth of sleep, he gazed over the camp. Raw and Tutor were still sleeping against their trees, and Glitch was still soundly sleeping in front of where the fire had been. Instantly he became alert. Where was DG?
He had his answer a short moment later when he looked to his left, and curled up against him, was DG, sleeping on his duster. Her breathing was soft and deep, and he hated to have to wake her. Her hair had fallen across her face, and he tenderly moved it out of the way.
He was reminded of the first morning he’d woken up to see her next to him. Could someone’s heart change in such short time?
III. Tryst
In the many months following the Double Eclipse and Azkadellia’s release from the evil witch, a great deal of work was done to restore peace and harmony to the O.Z. The Queen and her Consort had reinstated the Tin Men, and Wyatt Cain was offered a new position - in charge of all the various units throughout the O.Z.. He accepted, but with the one stipulation that he would be based at the Royal Palace.
All were in agreement, and Cain allowed himself a small smile. Outwardly, Tin Men shouldn’t show emotion, but inwardly, Cain knew he’d wanted to remain at the Palace because of DG. She’d helped him realize he still had a heart, and a good one at that. And over those months, he’d grown close to his Princess.
There were many factions of Longcoats who remained loyal to the old Sorceress, as well as many other threats to the royal family. Cain was constantly on high alert as he struggled to refill the ranks with men loyal to the Queen. The Royal Palace had their own detail of Tin Men that Cain had hand-picked, one being his son, Jeb.
He assigned his best man, Rhys, to shadow DG. Rhys was to make sure she never knew he was there. Cain knew he should do it himself, but there were times that could possibly prove distracting. As it was, he found himself thinking more about her smile and her laugh rather than getting any work done.
The times that they did see each other were well-spent. If you could call her telling him about all the pleasures she’d missed from the Other Side “well-spent.” She told him about TV, DVDs, mp3s, the internet; chocolate, as she emphasized it. He found he could understand most of what she talked about, but there were just some things (the whole concept of flying being one of them) he would just never be able to figure out.
He loved her smile and her laugh, but mostly it was her compassion, and her never-wavering loyalty to her friends. And unless he was reading her wrong, she was beginning to think of him as more than just a friend. He also knew he would have to do some serious searching through a soul that had loved, lost, and been torn apart almost irreparably; and was now held together by new, tenuous strings. Could he do it?
The hour drew late that night, and he finally retired to his bed in his suite of rooms he’d been given at the Royal Palace. The thoughts of his day kept him awake well into the night, and he found he needed to once again acclimate himself to sleeping on a bed. His duster was on a coat stand by the main door to his rooms, but he hung his hat and gun holster on one of the top bedposts.
It was full dark outside his window. A faint noise in his outer rooms caused him to go still. He sat up in bed, and wearing only a pair of his shorts, slid the gun from its leather case and silently readied it.
Holding the gun in front of him, he nudged his door open to peer out into the darkness. There was a figure sitting on his couch, just sitting, waiting for him. It was DG. How in the blazes...?
He placed the gun on the nightstand next to his bed, and went out to her. In the light of the moon that was peaking in through the drapes, he could see she was wearing only an over-sized shirt. And it looked ... familiar, he realized.
“How did you get here?” he quietly demanded. Someone hearing voices this late was bound to be suspicious.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said, drawing her feet up on the couch and resting her chin on her knees.
“So you wander around the palace in your bare feet, and... and my shirt?” he asked in a rough whisper.
“I didn’t wander,” she said, smiling at him. “I knew exactly where I was going.”
He was silent a moment, wondering how to mention Rhys to her. But he was saved that trouble.
“You can also tell your shadow I know he’s there,” she said.
He started at her words. He’d told Rhys that DG was never to know he was there. Cain would need to reassign Rhys, but that could wait until the morning. In the meantime, his very distraction was now right in front of him, wearing just his shirt as far as he could tell.
Cain changed his question to get the answer he wanted out of her.
“Ok, why are you here?” he asked, sitting on the other end of the couch.
“I .... I don’t know,” she said. She looked down at her toes.
“Deeg,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.”
“You have my shirt,” he said.
“I know,” she smiled coyly up at him.
In the next instant, he was at her side, his hand caressing her cheek. He leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers. He was relieved when she responded with a kiss of her own. Her arms went around him and pulled him closer.
A rational part of his mind forced him to break the kiss and straighten up for the moment.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. She nodded, her eyes wide.
“I don’t know how far this will go,” he cautioned.
“It’s ok,” she said. “I’m a big girl, I know what happens when a man and a woman - ” He cut her off with a kiss. She squeaked in surprise, but returned his kiss, and then allowed herself to be picked up and carried into the bedroom.
He’d discovered exactly what she’d been wearing under his shirt, and she nearly died of pleasure when he took off her panties. That night, they learned about each other on the most intimate level, making love as well as sharing thoughts. And sometime during those wee hours, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Dawn was just making the horizon pink with the tinges of the first sun’s rays when a movement woke him. Eyes still closed, he reached over to the other side of the bed, but even though the bed was still warm, she wasn’t there. He opened his eyes in time to see his own door close, and then heard his main door close softly beyond.
He rolled back on to his pillows, and allowed himself a rare smile.
Later that morning, when Rhys checked in, he reported that the Princess DG remained asleep in her bed all night, until just about an hour ago.
Cain decided not to reassign Rhys just yet.
IV. Nightmare
DG had a bad habit of sneaking out of her rooms at night to stay with Cain. If anyone noticed, they were too discreet to even pass on gossip. Which is how Cain realized that no one did know about it - he’d heard no such gossip about the Princess and her Tin Man.
He looked forward to the nights she’d spend with him, but he understood if she couldn’t figure out how to slip past Rhys. Unless she’d somehow conned Rhys into saying she was in her room all night.
There were the two nights weekly when Rhys was not posted at her door; Cain had simply assigned those nights to himself. And DG would agree - he did an excellent job of keeping watch over her.
That day, it had started out rather oddly: a band of renegade Longcoats thought they could launch an attack on the royal palace. But since they were quite disorganized, it was an easy task to disarm and imprison all six of them.
There were various scuffles that day that he was dispatching men to, or found himself riding out to handle. By that evening meal, he was downright exhausted. From his seat next to her, he smiled as she talked and laughed with her parents and her sister, and Glitch - silly Ambrose insisted on keeping the name.
Before the meal was over, he had to apologize to the Queen, her Consort, and the Princesses - especially DG who tried to pull her pouting trick - and retire to his rooms. He took off his gun and holster and hat, and put them on the familiar bedpost. He pulled off his boots, stretched out on the bed, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.
It was a familiar scene, one he never again wished to relive, but it was something that would not simply just “go away” either.
Zero had dragged him out of the house, and was beating and punching him while other Longcoats restrained him. And while he was down, they brought his wife outside and made her watch, and punched her when she didn’t. But there seemed to be something different about the nightmare this time - he couldn’t see her face.
He could no longer tell what he was screaming - it could have been her name - as the Longcoats forced him into the metal prison and watch Zero try to “console” his wife. He banged on the inside of the suit, needing to get out, to be with her, all the anger and rage surfacing again. Zero touched her cheek, and she spat at him.
It was only a nightmare, he tried to convince himself, he wasn’t really trapped in that box again. He summoned all his strength, channeled his emotions, and flung open the tin box with such a force that he nearly fell. He saw her in Zero’s grasp, and rushed towards them, remembering from nightmares past what was about to happen.
But the dream continued to play out, and Zero callously broke her neck and dropped her to the ground. With maniacal laughter, Zero disappeared from the dreamscape.
He dropped to his knees with a gut-wrenching yell next to where she fell, the tears flowing freely. Tin Men weren’t supposed to show such emotion, but he was beyond caring.
He gathered her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. His DG.
It was the rocking motion that woke him. He sat up in bed, hating the disorientation that assailed him. He looked around, and sighed in relief at the familiar surroundings. It was only a nightmare. Only, he scoffed the word in his head. He felt an odd sensation on his cheeks, and found they were ...wet. What in the name of the Grey Gale - he’d been crying?
He turned back and looked at the bed. On the other side, DG was asleep, her head resting on her hands. There was something odd about how she slept, and after a moment, Cain recognized what it was.
She’d been watching him during his nightmare.
He watched her now, the slow steady breaths, her long lashes, her soft lips, her long hair draped over her cheek. She was wearing his shirt again, he noticed, and smiled. He reached out and tenderly moved the dark hair away from her face. She stirred, stretched out, and opened her eyes.
“Cain?” she asked, her voice heavy with sleep. Then she sat bolt upright. “Oh my god, Wyatt, are you all right? You were having the worst nightmare, and I tried to wake you but I just couldn’t and then you seemed to be all right, so i just put my head down on the pillow for just a moment, and....” she stopped then and looked at him in the dark room. She could have sworn he was smiling at her. He drew her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m much better now,” he said. “Thank you.”
She looked up at him with her wide eyes, and he kissed her tenderly.
Their lovemaking that night was slow and tender, as well as healing. When they were finally sated, she snuggled against him, her back pressed up against his chest, and she could feel his heart beating against her. He wrapped his arm around her, pressed his body against hers, and drew her close to him. When he finally slept again, there were no more nightmares.
V. Ever After
She was still there when he woke in the morning.
***
Tin Man Fan Fiction
For entertainment only
© 2008 by Caren Franco
Only is Rhys original. Beta-read by Aphrodite, Bodge, MagickBoxGirl, Raloria, and StrangeVisitor. DG, Wyatt, Adora and Jeb Cain, Glitch/Ambrose, Zero, The Mystic Man, Raw, Tutor, Finaqua, Azkadellia, Central City and the O. Z. were created by Steven Long Mitchell, Craig Van Sickle, Nick Willing, Robert Halmi, Sr., Robert Halmi, Jr., Imagiquest Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, and the Sci-Fi Channel; inspired by L. Frank Baum.
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