Disclaimer: I do not own the tv miniseries Tin Man; all the credit to RHI Entertainment and Sci Fi Channel original pictures; no copyright infringement intended.

Author's Note: This part of the Tin Man fantasy happens about a year after the trouble with the Witch-Possessed-Azkedellia. Enjoy!

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~~Love is Gentle~~

~Chapter One~

DG slammed the door behind her so hard that she nearly went back in to apologize, but she didn't. She couldn't. She was afraid she'd scream herself hoarse if she stayed a single hour longer in Central City.

There were days that she wished she were back in Kansas but then she'd remember the plain and dull life she had lived there. No matter how frustrating life in the O.Z. became she would never go back to that. Besides, her duty was here.

Instead of going back to Kansas, DG decided to go to the only place where she knew she would feel peace, have the closest feeling of going home and be left alone; Finaqua.

Jumping over two stairs at a time till she reached the floor where the Royal Family lived, DG rushed to her chambers, grabbed a change of clothes, a cloak and a few other odds and ends then ran back out again. Headed for the Transportation Center she nearly ran into Ambrose, who in her heart would always be known as Glitch, and briefly telling him where she was leaving to she ran off again before he could reply; she'd be far away before he found and told the Queen.

At the Transportation Center she quickly found her favorite horse, a majestic brown stallion named Breeze. Saddling the horse she packed her few scant belongings in the saddlebags then climbed up onto his back. Clicking her tongue and pressing her foot into his flank, they were off.

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Riding over the fields, DG remembered why she used to love riding her motorcycle and now how she loved riding horses. She felt so wild and free as if she were one with the horse and the wind blowing through her hair. Breeze ran swiftly, like the breeze he'd been named for. It only took a couple of hours to reach the Lake Country in which resided Finaqua, DG's childhood home.

DG had traveled through the forest to reach Finaqua instead of by the roads and hearing the familiar sounds of the lake through the trees, she unseated herself from Breeze's back and stepped onto the leaf-carpeted ground. The forest was green and the leaves shone a brilliant green and through the trees DG could see the Lake Finaqua, glistening like diamonds and sapphires.

She softly breathed in the smell of lake water and the natural shrubbery around her. Picking up the front of her riding dress so that it wouldn't trail in any mud, she stepped through the line of trees, fully greeting the view before her. Birds flew above, calling to one another while squirrels in the forest chuckled at one another.

Overwhelmed by the beauty of this place, DG could only smile contentedly. There the gazebo stood with the wooden swing hanging where it always had, the safe haven where her mother had held her when she was scared. Walking towards it and closer to the water's edge she remembered the days spent here with her mother and sister. After first coming to the O.Z., DG had hardly been able to remember a single thing from her magical past but now after a year, she knew everything. With her memories no longer shielded by her mother's magic DG was able to recall past experiences; such as losing her first tooth, climbing trees with Azkadellia, waiting indoors on rainy days and playing pretend games of spectacular adventures and always her mother's presence close by keeping a mother's watchful eye on them.

Each moment spent in Finaqua was like paradise; as long as there were no princessing lessons and suitors nagging on her every second of the day.

A quick wind suddenly picked up her hair and the light folds of her ginger colored dress almost as if it wished to whisk her away from all her cares and worries. Lifting her arms up above her head she twirled and danced on the lake's edge, her boot-clad feet splashing into small waves as she ran around now laughing and dancing to no real music other than the quiet and soothing noises of nature.

Eventually when she began to feel tired from her ride and from running and dancing on the shoreline her feet found their way to the swing. She sat down, her hands grasping the yellowed ropes as the beautifully carved wooden swing creaked beneath her sudden weight. Swinging in rhythm to the waves, DG closed her eyes, breathing softly her mind fading slowly into the world around her.

DG was beginning to fall in and out of sleep, the peace of Finaqua affecting her natural awareness so that at first she didn't notice the sound of boots crushing twigs at the edge of the trees. It wasn't until the muffled sound of footfalls in the sand began to approach her that her eyes flashed open, her mind and body becoming totally alert. Standing up from her perch on the swing and spinning to face the intruder so quickly that she would have been dizzy had not the adrenaline already been pumping through her veins, she gasped. There he stood, unchanged from the months that had passed by since she had last seen him, Wyatt Cain.

A silent flutter like butterflies moved in her stomach, which DG tried to ignore and blamed on the fact that Cain had surprised her. She was sure she'd be just as giddy inside if it were any of her other friends, like Glitch or Raw.

His face looked like it was having a hard time deciding to either scowl or grin when suddenly he laughed, the laugh of his mellow voice.

"I'm not that terrifying am I?" he asked in response to the look of scared surprise she still wore on her face. He chuckled. A smile quickly flashed across her face as she ran across the wooden boards of the gazebo to throw her arms around him in a hug. His arms encircled her securely but carefully so as not to crush her.

"I've missed you," she said unashamedly in a way that two close friends who hadn't seen each other in seven months would have, "but mostly your wonderful sense of humor." she added sarcastically.

"Someone has to make sure you don't fall into anything and cause a raucous kid." He gruffly replied with a grin.

"In case you don't know how to count, I'm twenty-one annuals old and hardly a kid. Sheesh I defeated a time-old witch! That hardly qualifies me to be a kid." She smiled at him teasingly.

"Compared to me, you'll always be a kid." He grabbed her in another bear hug, patting her back in a near-father-like way.

I wish I could be more than that to you. Her mind thought absently and without her encouragement. She quickly brushed the idea away, refusing to believe that she might have hidden feelings for the Tin Man. Right now that was one thing that could not happen.