Okay, so I know I am supposed to be working on the other, and I am, but it's going to take me a bit to figure out exactly how I want those to go. So meanwhile, I finished this one that's been on my computer for awhile. Enjoy. :) I do not own Tin Man or this song... the song being Don't Like You Anymore by Don Philips. I love this song, but it's REALLY old.
She didn't know when it was things began to change for her. It felt so strange, so good, but still strange. Maybe she'd always felt this way, but she didn't think so. She had a feeling it was sometime between when Glitch and Cain saved her from the tower, and when they came in so proud and relieved after the eclipse was over. Then again, maybe then it'd only been a small notion in the back of her mind that came forward when he hugged her at the time.
When ever it happened, something in her did change and she knew exactly how she felt about Glitch.
He came into the dining room for breakfast and she could feel the heat flush to her face. She ducked her head, pretended to be focused on her breakfast. He looked at her curiously before sitting down next to her. "Morning, Doll."
He'd come to calling her "doll" more and more often. She loved the way he said it. It was not like how Cain called her "kid", in that protective fatherly voice she heard more often than from her own father. No, the way Glitch said it was endearing, it made her feel like she was the only person on his mind.
But sometimes it made her even more uncomfortable, because it made her heart thump painfully. She muttered her "good morning", ignored the strange looks her friends and family were giving her. This was not the time to acknowledge that she felt something for her mother's adviser, something way down deep in her heart.
When she thought she was done blushing like a school girl, she grinned at Az, made some cheeky comment that started the conversation back up.
"How'd you like to help me with something?" Glitch caught up with her in the hallway after breakfast. "It's really quite something, I think. It's a little thing I thought up to..."
She stopped listening, trying to figure out what to say. "Glitch..." She spoke carefully when she came up with something. "I promised my mother I'd finalize all the details for tonight's banquet."
"I understand." His brow furrowed after a moment. "DG, we don't spend time together any more, every time I suggest we do, you find something better to do or make up some kind of excuse. Come on, Doll, you hate all that planning stuff."
"Glitch," She dropped the facade she'd been wearing around him for the last several months. "I don't trust myself to think straight when it's just us. Something's changed between us, can't you feel it?"
"You don't think I don't?" She stared at him blankly. "I've been trying to get you alone for the last four months, babe. But you never let me get close anymore."
"I..." She couldn't think. Suddenly she was afraid, afraid that they weren't talking about the same thing. But she had an idea, an idea that she had no idea how he'd react to. "have to go." And she broke out of his hold, careful not to burst out into a run.
"DG..." He called after her.
She turned back to look at him, knowing he was horribly confused. "Are you going to be there tonight?"
He smiled a little, something in his eyes told her he would understand if she avoided him for the next several days. Thankfully, that was the last thing she intended to do. "Of course."
"Then I'll see you there." She continued down the hallway, too much in a hurry to speak to her mother about live entertainment.
She looked at Cain with a kind of fear. She knew he knew. Oh god, this was awkward. "Cain, why did you want to talk to me?"
He didn't like this anymore than she did. She could tell. His face was redder than usual and he refused to actually meet her eyes. "I was told you have a thing for the headcase."
She sat down in the chair in front of his desk, he was already sitting on his desk, so now they were close enough that she could hug him if she felt the desire to. And for some odd reason, she always felt like hugging Cain. "Yes," She nodded, "I'm in love with him. I know you think I'm foolish, but I've never felt this deeply about someone. It's like I'm this new person when I'm with him, a better person."
"God, Kid," He rolled his eyes, "I don't need the details."
"Sorry." She tucked her tongue inn her cheek. "Did you seriously call me in here just to say that?"
"No, unfortunately." His face got even redder. "It's come to my attention that... well, here's the thing. Your father doesn't know how to talk to you, and I've been made aware that neither did your nurture units when it came to..." He made some gesture with his hands and she caught on faster than she would have liked.
"No, Cain, don't." She was appalled, he could not be doing this to her. Not now, not ever, no, no , no. "Please, spare us both."
He got up uncomfortably to lock the door before returning to sit back on the desk. "Face it kid, we have to have the talk."
"DG!" A voice yelled for her, it was that one voice she'd been trying to get out of her head all day. She was sitting in a sitting room that was unofficially designated the meeting place for the four of them. She had been trying to get her conversation with Cain out of his head. In fact, he'd almost talked her out of starting anything with Glitch, just to get him to stop talking.
"DG!" He was getting closer, and she gave up hoping she could be silent and he'd just go away.
"You already know where I am, Glitch, yelling is just unnecessary." She called back. She stood so that he would see her when he came in. And so he did, his eyes taking in her appearance. She looked down before realizing what he was looking at. After the conversation she'd had dance practice. A practice that she dreaded everyday (though sometimes not as much when a certain adviser volunteered to be her dance partner) So she was wearing a plain dress that had a huge slit up the edge. "What is so important that it can't wait until later?"
He looked at her with tired eyes, as if he'd been worrying about it all day. "I need to know if we're still friends."
She almost couldn't answer, why wouldn't they still be friends? Then she remembered this morning. "Are you asking if I still like you?" He nodded slowly. She couldn't help but smile at the coincidence that he'd ask her that."No, Glitch, I don't like you anymore..."
He stiffened, "I understand" and walked away.
"Wait, you don't understand!" She called after him but he was already gone, she never even got to finish her sentence.
She'd looked for him, but he was gone. Before she was done looking, her mother had swooped in and forced her into a large dressing chamber. As she stood as still as she could, the seamstress made the last adjustments to her gown. She didn't get why she had to wear a ball gown to a banquet, but it could work in her favor.
"Mother, I meant to talk to you earlier, but I'm afraid I got pulled into a rather uncomfortable meeting instead." She looked at the woman getting her own dress altered just a few feet away from her.
"And what is it you were meaning to speak with me about?" Her mother asked with a voice that could fool most people into thinking it was patience. Truly it was exasperation. She'd been trying to change her daughter for so long that she was about to just give up entirely.
"I'm going to do something foolish tonight," DG warned her with a small smile. "To make up for an even more foolish mistake I made earlier today."
"Angel, don't do something you'll regret." Her mother warned.
"I have no idea if I'll regret it or not." She turned to look at her reflection in the mirror and started contemplating how best to wear her hair. "But I have to try."
She'd just come from a long practice with the band that was playing there. It wasn't going to be like how she'd first heard it a while ago, but actually she liked it better. But a two hour practice in a ball gown (for reasons she couldn't fathom, her mother had ordered it tight enough in the bodice that once it was on the only way to get it off was to cut it, so she was stuck in it.) while worrying over Glitch was not as enjoyable as it could have been.
As she walked into the large banquet hall, her eyes swept the room. There were many men and women, over a hundred, half she didn't even know their names. Scattered in clumps throughout the table were the people she did know. Most of them nodded in greeting, though there were two that didn't.
Glitch didn't meet her eyes, but jumped right into a conversation with Cain. Raw didn't do anything, but she knew he felt the tension and that made him uncomfortable. She couldn't see him suffer, she knew, as she went around the table to rest a hand on top of his. Something passed between them, and he smiled. He'd seen her plan. Meeting her eyes, he nodded.
She behaved as a lady would for most of dinner, sitting between her father and Cain. Neither her or Cain had been able to make eye contact yet. It would take a while for that particular scarring to fade. It was during the second half of dinner, when Glitch made a comment to Raw about the lack of upbeat music that she chose to act. She rose quickly.
She walked over to stand in the very middle of the banquet tables. "If I may have your attentions for a moment." She spoke so calmly, so softly, that the loud chatter hushed instantly. "I would like to thank you all, first of all, for coming tonight. And second, we have a surprise for you. I have been practicing my dancing, and as much as I'm sure you knew that, my mother would like to show off. In compromise, I have been given the chance to choose the song. This is a song I have brought with me in my heart from the Otherside." She heard the murmurs, saw the horrible look her mother was giving her. Her mother would have to forgive her, because this was what she needed to do. "I hope you enjoy, though I certainly don't expect you to."
She went to stand with the band. Her gaze scanning the table, she couldn't ask Cain to dance with her if she couldn't make eye contact with him and Raw couldn't dance to save his life. There was really only one choice, she could hope he wouldn't reject her in front of everyone. "Ambrose," She held her hand out to the man when his head shot up, "Would you care to dance with me?"
He got up stiffly and made his way around the table. There was a coldness in his eyes as he took the stance, waited for the beat. And away they went.
Something strange goin' on
I feel a change comin' on
In my chest I feel unrest
Way down deep,baby
The dance had him spinning her and snapping her back closer to him.
You need to hear me when I say
When you're near me it's not the same
As it used to be with you and me
A secret I can't keep
She didn't look at him anymore, because the words hit too close to home if he didn't understand, but let the song overwhelm her.
'cause now I'm feeling something new
Something deep,something true
Don't misunderstand me when I say
She sung along, just a little as so no one else would hear her but Glitch.
I don't like you anymore
I can't ignore that now it's love ,that now it's love
Now it's love I'm feeling for ya
When she did finally open her eyes, Glitch was staring at her with such intensity that she could have sworn he'd burn a hole in her. She smiled and pushed onward, letting her body take the weight of their movements for a moment.
Now I see I was blind
How could I be so unkind
When you were the one the only one
Who loved me so,yeah
What I'm feelin' now for you
Is something different,something new
And now I find I think it's time
To let you know
He let go of her, she tried not to feel a panic that maybe he was heading to the door. But instead, she remembered that she was supposed to walk around him now, like a predator to it's prey.
'cause now I'm feeling something new
Something deep,something true
He reached out and yanked her back to him.
Don't misunderstand me when I say
I don't like you anymore
She laughed as he spun her again
I can't ignore that now it's love,that now it's love
Now it's love I'm feeling for ya
She dared to brush her lips against his cheek as they danced, completely enthralled by the man holding her.
I don't like you anymore
Not like the way I did before
I don't like you anymore
He brushed her lips against hers, the movement stopping even as the singing went on, they were too caught up in the kiss they shared.
'cause now I'm feeling something new
Something deep,something true
Don't misunderstand me when I say
I don't like you anymore
I can't ignore that now it's love,that now it's love
Now it's love I'm feeling for ya
"DG," Glitch pulled back, his voice almost hesitant to break the spell they were under. "I've been meaning to tell you for a while..."
"Don't bother." She smiled as she turned back to her mother and gave her a nod before resting her head on Glitch's shoulder.
"Why?" Glitch pressed a kiss to her forehead as they saw that others had filled the floor while they danced.
DG shrugged. "Because I don't like you anymore."
He laughed before bringing her hand up to his lips. "Now it's love."
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