Disclaimer: Sadly not mine.
God damn it. She walked into her suite wishing, for the first time in her life, that she didn't know herself as well as she did. Sometimes it really and truly sucked to know what your own limitations were. She missed the days when she was positive, that given the chance, she could jump off the roof and fly over the cornfields. Sadly, she learned that she could not. Her broken arm taught her several things. One: She could not fly. Two: It was okay that she couldn't fly. She didn't have wings.
That wish was followed closely by a second one. She really wished she hadn't danced with that duke from WhereEverTheHellHeCameFrom because she was pretty sure he had broken one of her toes. When she sat down at her vanity and removed her ridiculously high heels that hunch was confirmed. Tossing the shoes in a corner she turned, put her arms on the vanity, and buried her face in them.
This had officially been the worst day ever. Including being sucked into a tornado, finding out what she did to her sister, and the following day where she had been locked in a coffin before running, like a crazy person, into a tower to kill a witch. This had been worse. And not even in an, 'I've done something mortifying at my first ball kind of way'. It was more of a, 'Holy mother of God there is no way in any universe that I can do this' kind of thing. The ball was actually fine. At least she assumed it had been having never been to one before. Which was really most of the problem in itself. She was so out of her experience she didn't know what to do. It didn't help that she had nothing in common with anyone attending. She wasn't sure how Ahamo had managed after he married her mother. He talked to total strangers as if they'd know each other all their lives. In response said strangers assumed they had. What was that? It wasn't fair what it was. Advantages with people should be genetically shared. That was all she was really saying about the ability.
Not that it actually mattered because it hadn't been shared and she wasn't Ahamo. While she may have a streak of his carefree, I can breeze thorough anything attitude, it didn't generally respond to her in situations with a lot of people. Fighting and running for her life she could handle without batting an eyelash. Being shoved, dressed up like a porcelain doll into a room full of thousands of people had her heart in her throat and sweat popping out all over her body. She simply couldn't do that again. It was horrible in every way. She truly and honestly loathed the last five hours. She would have rather been back in the damn coffin. Without any air this time.
It hadn't helped at all that for four of the five hours she had been utterly separated from anyone she knew. She had been forced to talk to strangers, something she hated at any time, alone. In this dress, which showed more skin than any human should be seeing save for her, about things she didn't know about. She felt like an idiot. An idiot in a costume. As she contemplated how she had been tricked into this dress by Az there was a firm knock on her door that she chose to ignore. Not that it helped in the slightest since Cain went ahead and walked on in as if he owned the place.
"Kid?" She heard the door shut and remained motionless, hoping that if she made no noise and refrained from breathing he wouldn't know she was here and leave. It didn't work. Did he have some sort of Spidey sense going on she wasn't aware of? It gave him an unfair advantage. It was like freaking DG radar. She suspected he had some sort of machine implanted in his hat. Or possibly his boots. He stopped in the doorway to her room. She could feel him staring at her hunched over the vanity. "Deeg?"
"Yes, Cain?" She answered evenly while keeping her head right where it was.
"What are you doin'?"
How to explain this? Nope, no good way. "Sitting."
"I can see that."
This was a ridiculous conversation. "So we're all caught up then?"
There was a slight pause. "My guess would be no." Damn. She caught sight of the tip of his shiny brown boot from the crack in her arms. Then his knee was there as he crouched down next to her. In those pants. Who put him in those pants by the way? That had been all out mean. Every woman in the hall had been looking at him. She would admit to a seething, and utterly illogical amount of jealously over the entire matter. "What's goin' on, Princess? That went amazingly well."
"Did it?"
"It did."
"That's good." She meant that. Really she did. They had needed it to go well.
"Why are you all hunched up?"
"I've heard it helps improve your posture."
She was sure he rolled his eyes. "Kid, talk to me."
Her fingers clenched as she told him. She never could keep secrets from him. Not that she hadn't tried, but he would hound her until she caved. She didn't have the energy or motivation to stall tonight. "I don't think I can do that again."
"Do what?" He pushed some of her perfectly curled for the ball hair over her shoulder.
"There were too many people." She sucked in as much air as she could with a corset on. "I can't… There were too many people."
He was silent for a second. "You can't handle crowds?"
"It's just-" She licked her lips. "I have no idea what's going on. You all left and I felt like people were speaking another language. I felt so stupid and there were people all around me." Her fingernails were digging into her bare arm.
The tin man caught her hand to stop her from punching holes in her skin. "You're not an idiot. Everyone in there knew you lived on the Otherside. No one expected you to know everything that was happening."
"I really think they did." She could still see the faces of a few of the older people when she didn't respond the way she was obviously meant to more than once. And even worse, the younger people that she was sure were making fun of her in a way she didn't understand. "It wasn't good."
He squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry. If I'd known your parents were going to toss you out on your own I would have stayed with you."
She let him off the hook immediately. This wasn't his fault at all. "How dare you socialize? You're clearly a horrible person."
He ignored her sarcasm. "Why don't you like crowds?"
"I grew up in a town with a total population of three hundred people. I spent most of my time alone working on machines. It's too much noise, and smells, and eyes staring at me, and people laughing at me-"
"Who was laughin' at you?" He cut in.
"I don't know who they were. They were younger."
"I'm sure they weren't-"
"They were. I've been laughed at before. There was some sort of joke going on." She finally raised her head and managed a strained smile. She was sure she looked pathetic. "Doesn't matter. It's over now right? I don't have to go back down?"
"No, Darlin'. You're all done."
Insanely relieved, she nodded gratefully. "Okay." She slowly pulled her hand away from his. "That makes me feel a lot better." Reaching out she straightened the collar on his dress uniform. She'd never seen anyone wear a uniform the way he did. The dark green fabric sat on his shoulders perfectly and his medals glimmered on his chest.
She learned several months ago that Cain had spent his younger years in the military before becoming a tin man. Apparently he had been a very good soldier. He'd risen through the ranks quickly and she was slightly surprised he had retired his commission. When she asked him why he had he'd told her he wanted to settle down. He'd been married then she knew, and Jeb had been born shortly after. He and his young family had settled in Central City and he had excelled in his new profession. She wasn't surprised. Wyatt tended to excel at everything.
After the witch had been melted the military, the new one, had been filled with resistance fighters and the few good military men that could still be found or had come out of the woodwork. Cain happened to be both and her parents had made him a general without a thought. He'd amassed more medals since then as well as a title. The queen and consort didn't want any complications or protest over his social rank to crop up. They made him a duke. So many high ranking people and had been killed over the last fifteen years that it wasn't hard to find him an empty place to fill. He'd protested both with stubborn persistence until she had pointed out, off hand so he wouldn't get suspicious, that he was the only one she would trust to run the army. She hadn't heard him utter one peep about not deserving his new place since then.
Finished with his collar she reached down and flipped a medal over that had somehow been turned around. "You look really handsome tonight."
He captured her hand in his bigger one. "Are you alright, DG?"
She kept her smile on with amazing force of will. "Yes." To her dismay, even as the word left her mouth a tear tracked down her cheek. She pretended like it wasn't there. "I'm fine."
Reaching up with his other hand he brushed the tear away. "You might be the worst liar I've ever met."
She let out a short, wet laugh. "Oh well. I can't be good at everything." He stroked her cheek as he watched her with obvious worry. "I'll be fine tomorrow. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that way. Now I know." She kept her voice cheery. "That'll make next time easier right?" When he didn't say anything she squeezed the hand that was still wrapped around hers. "Lie to me, Cain."
"Next time will be easier."
Her smile got a bit more genuine. "You're much better at that than me."
Suddenly his arms were around her and he hugged her to him as he knelt on the ground next to her vanity. Caught off guard she didn't move for a moment. Cain never hugged her first. Except for the time up on the hill before they ran into the tower but that had been over a year ago now. When her brain caught up she accepted the comfort and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Feeling better, she tucked her head against his shoulder and fought down tears. His hand rubbed over her back. "It's okay, Darlin'."
She nodded. "I know. I'm being stupid about this. I'm sorry."
"You're not being stupid. We all have things we don't like. This happens to be yours."
"Too bad it isn't spiders. Someone could kill spiders for me."
She didn't need to see his face to know he smiled. "You like spiders."
She sniffed. "Their webs impress me."
His arms loosened and he pulled back. She lifted her head and summoned enough courage to look him in the eye. He sent her a warm smile that made her feel a little better as his hands stayed on her shoulders. "I'll stay with you next time."
"You don't have to do that." She shrugged as guilt over asking him to do that curled in her belly. "You're allowed to have a life that doesn't involve bowing to my every whim."
He rolled his eyes. "You aren't exactly demandin'."
She wasn't feeling much better about any of this. "We both know I monopolize your time. It isn't fair to you. You deserve more than this job. You deserve a life outside of it."
One of his hands moved up her shoulder and rested on her neck. His thumb began to brush the bottom of her jaw slowly as he spoke. "You gave me my life back. I'm doin' what I want with it."
"I don't believe you." She stated at once. She never could keep her thoughts to herself. It bit her in the butt all the time but this was Cain. He never seemed to mind her brutal honesty even when it was directed at him.
"Why?"
"Because other than just now I haven't seen you smile in a month." She answered honestly.
His expression flickered briefly before going impassive. "I've had somethin' on my mind."
"What?"
His hand moved higher and he stroked her hair. Then he held the back of her head and leaned in. She froze as his warm lips brushed lightly over hers. Then the situation caught up with her and she pressed forward eagerly. He wasn't getting away when he walked right into her like this. She'd wanted him for so long the constant ache of not having him was a normal part of how she felt. She'd gotten used to it. Now he was offering to let her release that and she jumped at the chance. His other arm slipped around her waist and tugged her closer as her hands settled on his shoulders. His fingers tangled in her curls and he deepened the kiss and slid her off the chair and on the floor in front of him. She didn't fight and the next thing she knew she was kneeling in front of him as he held her flush against him.
The tin man pulled back slightly and kissed the side of her mouth and then her forehead. Then he tucked her head under his chin and held her tightly. She let her arms slip down over his back and allowed him to hold her. She didn't know exactly what was going through his head but she knew it had taken a lot for him to initiate that. She didn't want to scare him off so she stayed still and silent while he gathered himself. He needed a bit of gathering herself so it was probably good for both of them. They stayed like that for a minute before his head turned slightly. "Why is your foot purple?"
She sighed. That sort of ruined the moment. "Someone stepped on me."
His arms loosened. "On purpose?"
"No, he was just really bad at the waltz."
He shook his head. "Come one. Let me look at that."
She knew there was no point in trying to dissuade him. "Okay."
He got to his feet and she was about to follow when he bent down and scooped her up. She let out a small squeak as she flew up. He let out a low chuckle as she gripped at his shoulders. "I'm not about to drop you."
"I'm not generally hauled off the floor like a doll. You surprised me there."
He shook his head with a smile as he moved her to the bed. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Surprise is not fear." She pointed out.
He hummed in agreement as he set her on the bed. She leaned against the headboard as he sat down on the side by her feet. He lifted her leg and set it over his thigh so he could inspect her injury more closely. His fingers inspected the area carefully and she winced when he hit the center of the bruise. He shook his head. "You should pick your dance partners more carefully. I think you broke it."
That was pretty much the only thing that hadn't surprised her this evening. "I figured."
"I'd go get furball but I don't know where he is."
"It's all right. I think I'll make it until tomorrow."
He rubbed her ankle. "Only you could break a bone at a ball."
"I do my best."
"You always do." He looked around. "Where's the med kit I gave you?"
"In the bathroom under the sink." He set her foot to the side and got up. She watched him disappear through the door and her mind finally began to process what had just happened. Cain had definitely kissed her about a minute ago. She realized she wanted him to do it again more than anything as the sounds of him shuffling around the bathroom reached her ears. He came out a minute later with the metal case and she smiled. "You're awfully dressed up for a first aid call."
His lip twitched as he sat back down. "This is a special mission."
"Is it?"
"Savin' a princess. Have to look my best."
"Goof." She smiled at him. He smiled back as he dug out a long bandage and began to wrap it around her foot. When he was done he tied it securely and patted her ankle. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." His hand caressed her skin for a moment. "I should go. It's late and I know you're tired."
Disappointed, she nodded. "Okay."
He met her eyes. "Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?"
"I'd like that."
"Me too." He got up and moved toward her. He leaned down and kissed her gently. "Goodnight, DG."
"Goodnight, Wyatt." She whispered as he hovered near her face. He smiled, a real genuine smile, and straightened up. Then he was out her door and closing it quietly after him. As soon as she heard her outer door shut she felt a small laugh bubbling out of her. Turning her head into her pillow she let the sound escape her and then laid there and smiled happily. Best ball ever.
Author Note: All right. Well I won't quit writing Tin Man fics then. My goodness, I feel very wanted. Thank you for so many great responses. I will keep all the suggestions and concerns about Catalyst in mind. I got some really good critiques about what is and isn't working about the story and I really appreciate all the comments. I realize this isn't Catalyst, and I will finish that story soon, but I've been Studying for the GRE the last few weekends and simply haven't had time to write the next chapter. I've had this one shot on the back burner for awhile and thought it might tide you all over for another week or so. I also have a new multi-chapter one started and will begin posting that once Catalyst is completed. Until next time, happy reading!