Chronology: The first story in the "There For You" series, takes place during part three of the miniseries.
Summary: AE. DG is unable to escape from the marble coffin on her own, and the events that follow bring emotions and feelings that might have otherwise stayed hidden.
Rating: K+
Genre: Angst/Romance
Disclaimer: If you recognize anything from anywhere, it's not mine. This story is written for entertainment purposes only.
Her ears rang, as though the very room she was in echoed with the sound of a heavy door closing. Even in the solid dark she could sense the stifling closeness, and her memory flashed to the green sarcophagus she had near the Gray Gale. Her breath suddenly hitched in her chest as her hands slammed against the heavy stone lid, a strangled cry ripping itself from her throat. Who she expected to hear her, she couldn't say; but while she knew that she shouldn't panic and reserve what air she had in this closed-off prison her frightened mind refused to listen to even its own reasoning. Far too quickly her voice broke, her lungs gasping for air as hot tears streamed down her face. Her hands grasped at the cold stone under her palms, but there was no give, no crack, no leeway that might keep her alive.
And for the first time since she had dropped out of the cyclone and realized she wasn't in Kansas anymore, she felt alone.
"It's Toto!"
Cain's ears perked up as Glitch's surprised voice reached across the small clearing, and sure enough, he turned to spot the small brown dog scurrying toward them, morphing into DG's former teacher even before he skidded to a stop.
"I can take you to DG, but we have to hurry; she's in trouble."
The Tin Man's heart skipped a beat, but the shape-shifter's previous actions still put him on alert.
"How do we know we can trust you?" he asked, ice-blue eyes narrowing in suspicion. He glanced at Raw, nodding slightly. The viewer stepped forward, his paw resting on Tutor's shoulder for a moment before he turned back to the others.
"Speak truth," he murmured, his brown eyes wide and nervous at what he had seen.
"I don't know how long she's been trapped, but it took me too long to find you; we have to move quickly," Tutor interjected.
"How?" Glitch asked, his inquiry answered by a sudden whinny from the camp. The four turned in unison to see a fighter tending a small group of horses. Cain glanced at the others for a moment before starting back across the clearing.
"Jeb, we're gonna have to borrow those."
In the silence of the crypt, her own breathing sounded too loud, too strained. The darkness, which had been closed-in before, was suffocating her. Her fingertips tingled, though she couldn't think clearly enough to wonder whether it was from the lack of oxygen or the last bit of magic that hadn't abandoned her. Even more so than before, she felt lost and alone. She had tried to call on her magic, recall her past lessons with Tutor, to open up the sarcophagus, but as she had grown weaker so had the light that coursed through her veins. The stone lid had never even budged.
She felt her eyes beginning to close, but she couldn't find it in herself to care, and didn't notice when the swirled pattern on her left palm started to glow faintly.
Tutor practically fell over as he morphed back into his human form beside the glowing door, breathing heavily.
"She's locked in there," he panted, nodding his head toward the door.
"Well, why didn't you just go in there and get her yourself?" Glitch dropped off his horse and strode jauntily toward the hidden entrance. "All this nonsense about her being in trouble and she's just stuck behind some door." Completely oblivious to the out-of-breath shape-shifter's attempts to stop him, his hand landed on the handle and in the next second he was blown across the path and into a patch of shrubs.
"Glitch!" Cain flew off his own horse and helped his friend stand. "You okay?"
The zipperhead stared at him, blinking owlishly.
"Well, I may not have all of my marbles, but I don't think doors are supposed to do that."
Cain released the advisor's coat unceremoniously, causing the man to stumble a bit, and crossed the path in a few strides to lift Tutor up by his collar.
"Alright, what's going on, Dog-man? You bring us here to save DG and we can't even get through the gods-forsaken door?" the Tin Man growled, his icy glare turning to steel.
"I didn't know, honestly. I didn't check before I came to find you."
"So now we get to stand out here and wait for something to happen? How the hell do we get through the door?"
"I don't know . . . I don't know!" the man stuttered, quaking under the Tin Man's gaze.
Cain shoved him aside in irritation.
"Raw, can you sense her?"
The viewer glanced at the other three men before closing his eyes, standing near the door but refusing to touch it. His brow furrowed nervously, his brown eyes opening and widening in fear.
"No, can't find DG."
"Which means you can't reach her through that magic, or there's nothing left to sense," Cain growled, checking the ammo in his revolver. "Maybe this door will react better to fire than it will to friendliness." And without another thought he took aim at the door-handle, ignoring the panicked yells of his three companions, suddenly dodging out of the way as his own bullet ricocheted off the door and bounced back at him, imbedding itself in a tree.
"Are you crazy?" Tutor stood and glared at the Tin Man. "Of course the door's not going to open for you if you're doing that."
"If you've got a better idea, Pooch, I'd love to hear it. In case you've forgotten, DG is trapped in there and all we know is that she's in trouble."
"Look!" Raw murmured, pointing toward the door. "Symbol on door matches symbol on DG's hand."
Her eyes opened, though she didn't know how much time had passed. Tears still trickled down her cheeks, her breathing more labored than it had been before, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Her magic flickered dully, the pattern on her palm swirling faintly. Her eyes slowly began to close again, and her quieting mind turned to her friends; the shy viewer, the addlebrained headcase, the wise and patient tutor. Somehow, as her thoughts fell on the stoic Tin Man, she felt a pang of sadness. Over anything else, knowing that she had let him down was the hardest thing to realize as her eyes finally closed for the last time.
I'm sorry Cain. I don't know what to do.
"DG used her magic to open up the door at the Northern Island, remember?" Glitch asked, his nerves and misfiring synapses making him seem more nervous than usual.
"Don't have magic to open door, Glitch!" Raw growled, the riled emotions swirling among the three humans forcing his own feelings into play. He suddenly whined, his gaze flying to the door. "DG," he murmured.
"You can sense her?" Cain strode to the Viewer, trying to catch his eye.
"Faint, growing fainter. Magic reaching out, trying to save her. Cain, you try to open door."
"Me? I just did, you saw what happened."
"Use handle, try to open. DG feel pain over disappointing you, like you feel pain over losing her. Magic understand, recognize you. Try. Need to try, save DG."
Placing his six-shooter back in its holster, he placed one calloused hand on the door handle. Encouraged when he wasn't blasted across the clearing, he turned it and pushed. The door didn't open.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath, sighing in apparent defeat. A split-second later the defeat melted away, replaced by a fierce determination that turned his eyes to a steely blue. "DAMMIT!" he roared, turning the handle again and slamming his shoulder against the door. The magical entranceway glowed brighter, and it was all Glitch and Tutor could do to hold Cain back and try to pull him away as Raw ran for cover behind a tree.
"Cain, let go of the door," the headcase ordered, his own voice bordering on a growl.
"I . . . I can't."
"Don't be an idiot, Tin Man, you breaking your shoulder isn't a help to anyone."
"I can't, Glitch! I can't get my hand to let go!"
Her breathing waned, and her heart slowed. Part of her mind told her that she had to stay awake, that there were others who were counting on her, but the stronger part told her it was okay to let go. Her magic was almost gone, just the barest flicker still showed on her palm. It suddenly ignited, flaring brighter for a split second and forcing her body to convulse in reaction, but just as quickly it quieted and finally dimmed.
The handle that Cain was holding on to glowed brightly for a moment, and suddenly his hand released on its own and the three men tumbled to the ground.
"What the hell?" he gasped, his eyes wide in bewilderment as they focused on the palm of his hand. He froze, his brow furrowing as he tried to figure out what it was that he was looking at.
"Cain, what is it?" Tutor asked, as surprised as any of them at this strange turn of events.
The Tin Man didn't respond, but turned his hand around to show the others the symbol that had been seared into his right palm.
"Can you explain this, Dog-man?"
"My word . . . ." the shape-shifter murmured, his eyes wide. "I've never seen this happen before. I've heard of it, but never before have I actually seen it. You and DG must share a very strong connection for this to have occurred."
"You think it will work?"
"It has to, the light magic has caused it to happen. Try, Cain, find the light that's within you, let it reach out to DG."
Looking more uncertain than any of them had ever seen, the Tin Man slowly stood and dusted himself off. Giving his palm one more wary glance, he cautiously approached the door for the third time, holding his branded hand near the identical symbol on the door. His hand and the door handle glowed faintly, and a few heart-pounding seconds later the door opened with a faint creak. Cain's hand dropped, and he released a breath he felt he'd been holding for hours.
"You'll have to explain that one to me later, Pooch," he muttered, pushing his way into the hidden crypt beyond the door.
"I'll certainly try," Tutor replied as he, Glitch, and Raw followed close behind.
"DG!"
The voice trickled past the pounding in her ears, her only reaction a faint creasing of the brow as her tired mind fought between holding on and letting go. She couldn't tell whether she was actually hearing the voices and the strong, steady footsteps pass her resting place, but they faded from her consciousness along with the sound of her own breathing.
Raw suddenly whimpered, his dark eyes wide in panic as his gaze flew to the green sarcophagus the group had just passed.
"Cain! DG here, she . . . ." his voice broke as his hands flew to the lid, clawing at the bolts that held it fast.
"She's in there? You're certain?" Cain flew to his friend's side, his voice betraying his own panic at the viewer's reaction.
"Certain. DG there. Was there."
"'Was'? She 'was' there?" The Tin Man's breathing started to hitch as what Raw was saying sank in.
"I'm sorry, Cain."
"NO!" Cain took a sudden step back, the feral cry ripping itself from his throat as his hand reached for the six-shooter on its own, taking aim at each of the four rusted bolts and blasting them one by one, sending shards of metal and marble flying. Any strength he had went into trying to move the lid aside. His three friends joined him, their combined effort sending the polished stone crashing to the ground. "DG!" he reached down in to the coffin, one arm supporting her behind the head while the other went under her knees, lifting her out and laying her on the ground. "Dammit, she's gone blue!" His hands moved on their own, recalling some long-past day during his Tin Man training. Knuckles ground into her breastbone on a search for a reaction, fingers found her pulse and tilted her chin up, his mouth covered hers, forcing air into her dying lungs. "DG, breathe, dammit, breathe!" Your heart's still beating, Kid, don't you give up on this. My heart's beating again because of you, yours isn't gonna stop if I have anything to say about it. "Come on, Deege, breathe!"
"Cain."
"Shut up or get out of here, Dog-breath!" His fingers felt for her pulse again, and he cursed when it died under his touch. His knuckles dug into her breastbone again, but the reaction wasn't there. His mind scrambled to remember what to do at the same time his hands started pushing on her chest, giving her heart a rhythm to follow. Glitch fell to his knees at DG's other side, his fingers holding her wrist. Another breath, and more chest compressions. "Raw?" Cain's voice choked on his emotions.
"Raw sorry. Raw cannot heal the dead."
The Tin Man grimaced, not wanting to give up but wondering whether it would be worth it to keep trying. He pushed another breath into her, his hands resuming their paced compressions, willing her heart to take on a pulse. The others watched in silence, unwilling to stop him as he tried a fourth time, deeper panic creasing his face with each passing second. A fifth round followed; Cain's voice was frantic as he urged her again. "Come on, DG, breathe!"
" . . . . DG, breathe!"
The voice was forcing itself back into her head, breath was filling her lungs again, and her heart was beating stronger with each passing second.
"Cain, her heart's beating! It's going on its own!"
That sharp pain on her chest came again, and she felt herself curling up, trying to get away from it. "She's posturing again. Come on, Deege, breathe for me!" Another breath was pushed into her, her lungs suddenly opening and the exhale catching in her throat, forcing her to cough.
Cain's face crumpled in relief at that first cough, a sigh flowing from his lungs as though he was the one who had stopped breathing. "Glitch, help me roll her onto her side. Deege, open your eyes." He supported her neck as they rolled her over, tucking her arm under her head to keep it from lolling sideways. His hand framed her face as her coughing slowly waned into longer gasping breaths, the duskiness in her skin dissipating. He brushed stray hairs from her eyes, tucking them behind her ear and gently massaging the back of her neck. "Come on, Deege."
It seemed an eternity before her sky-blue eyes opened, searching for him. Her gaze finally met his, and in the moment he noticed the fear that was still etched across her face her eyes suddenly filled with tears and the sobs that had been stifled by the closeness of the coffin were suddenly reborn. Her small frame shook, her hands fisting on their own, desperate for something to cling to. Cain gently gathered her into his arms, cradling her against his chest as she grasped at his duster. "You're okay, sweetheart," he murmured, the endearment falling from his lips before he could think on it. "You're safe, you're alright."
"Cain . . ." she gasped out, her breath catching over her tears. "The emerald . . . Az got it."
He glanced at the others, his arms instinctively tightening around DG; but he knew the princess needed to calm down and get her strength back before they let her worry about their own nervousness. For now he just wanted to get her out of the crypt.
"It's alright, Deege, we'll get it back," he nodded at the other three, holding DG securely against him as he slowly stood. As the small group stepped out of the glowing door and it closed behind them, Cain glanced up at the twin suns and their path toward the moon suspended overhead. His mind relaxed ever so slightly as he realized they had a few hours at least. Even counting the ride back to the tower, they had time enough for DG calm down and get her bearings back. At this point he was willing to give her that time even if the eclipse had already started.
As the others took it upon themselves to tend to the horses, Cain carried the young princess to a bright corner of the clearing, sitting down at the base of a tree. Tears still streamed down her face, and he reached up and stroked her hair as she continued to quake with her sobs. He didn't say anything as she cried, simply giving her the time she needed to work out her fears and holding her snugly against him as she shook. Even as her breathing evened out and she calmed down, her hand maintained its death-grip on his coat. "You okay?" he asked quietly.
She nodded silently, taking a deep breath and trying to pull the tears to a stop.
"I was scared, Cain," she murmured, her voice still shaky. "I didn't know what to do."
"I know, darlin'," he replied, suddenly perfectly comfortable with using such nicknames for her. He reached up and brushed a tear from her face. "I was scared, too. We thought we had lost you for a while there."
"I tried calling for someone, I just wanted to get out of there. It was so close, it was dark, and I couldn't breathe . . . " her voice broke, telling Cain that she was on the verge of crying again.
"Come on, Deege, you don't have to hold it in. It's okay, you can cry, it's just us here." In a way, he was relieved. He had seen the myriad emotions flicking across the girl's face on their journey through the OZ, though beyond their stop in the cave at Finaqua she hadn't let any of them show. He knew better than most how dangerous it could be to hold emotions in, and even with what happened at Finaqua he sensed that she had more hiding behind that mask. She needed this time to cry, to let go of her fears and release the emotions that she'd been bottling up ever since this whole adventure had started. Even as the tears started flowing down her cheeks again, he knew how hard it was for her. Her whimpers evolved into coughs, and she winced quietly as she rubbed the bottom of her ribcage. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, you're probably getting bruised there from the CPR; that can happen sometimes. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's okay," she murmured, her voice breaking.
"Tell me what happened?"
She glanced up at him, her eyes glistening, and she frowned a bit at his request. But she nodded, resting back against his chest as his embrace tightened slightly around her.
"I don't remember much from right after the ambush. Ahamo was carrying me over his shoulder, and he must have turned around a corner too fast, because I remember a sharp . . . pain in my head then waking up in a wooden hut by a lake."
Cain glanced down, surreptitiously looking for a bruise that might go along with her story, when he stopped. Wait a minute.
"Wait, Ahamo?"
"He's the Seeker, Cain. He asked to see my hands at the tavern because he needed proof that I am who he thought I was."
The Tin Man frowned, wondering about the kind of hell the man had put his own daughter through by literally abducting her. Even more he wondered about what thoughts had run through DG's head as she had been taken from her friends. "I wanted to come find you, but he convinced me that you would be alright and that we had to find the emerald . . . ."
". . . . next thing I heard was Glitch's voice, then yours, talking to me, telling me to breathe." She coughed again, another wince escaping her at the pressure on her bruised chest. When Cain didn't respond right away, she looked up at him. His eyes had a distant look to them, and for a moment she wondered if he had actually been paying attention. But, somehow, she knew he had; Wyatt wasn't the kind of person to zone out when he was listening to something important. Wyatt? Where had that come from? He had always been Cain, or Mr. Cain if you wanted to count right when they first met. Was she really comfortable being on a first-name basis with him? He had been calling her "sweetheart" and "darlin'," and with that curious drawl of his it sounded almost like he really meant it. But how could he really feel that way about her? Did she feel that way about him? "Cain?"
"I'm sorry, Deege, I never should have let you into that tavern. I knew it could be dangerous, being down in the Realm of the Unwanted."
"You couldn't have known what would happen, Cain. None of us thought that I'd get abducted by my own father."
"You almost died because of me!"
"And take a wild guess at who saved me, Tin Man. You were there when I needed you, and I'm still here because of you."
He looked down at her, blue eyes meeting blue, and for a moment a flash of understanding passed between them. Before he could say anything, the quiet sound of a throat being cleared interrupted them. The two of them turned, finding Glitch standing nearby, the look on his face something between discomfort and ecstatic glee. Where this emotion came from, either one could take a wild guess.
"Um, Toto says we best get going. It's at least an hour's ride to the tower, and we need to regroup with Jeb's army before the eclipse starts."
"Jeb?" DG turned back to Cain. "Your son, Jeb?"
"You weren't the only one to meet long-lost family, Deege," Cain chuckled wryly. "Hang on to me, let's get you back on your feet." He held her closer to him as he stood, carefully setting her down and steadying her with a hand on her shoulder as her legs shook slightly. She frowned nervously for a moment, then nodded at her two friends. The three of them made their way back to the horses, where Raw was still waiting. Before DG could ask, Cain took the reins of the white horse. "Up you go, Princess." He gave her a leg up, then climbed on behind her, wheeling the horse around and heading back toward the tower, their two friends following close behind with a little brown dog hot on their heels.
"Hey, has anyone seen Raw?"
Cain turned toward the Princess, noting the slight wheeze that was still present in her voice. He mentally berated himself for not giving the Viewer the chance to heal her before they rushed back to the tower, and figured that was why she was seeking him out now.
"I, uh, I think he's lost his nerve," Glitch muttered, nodding toward the edge of the forest. DG glanced in the direction he nodded, then back at her two friends before making her way toward the small thicket. Glitch looked at Cain, then followed suit. Wyatt turned to his son, nodding silently to the younger man before standing and following Glitch.
"Wait, that's bad, right?" the zipperhead was stuttering nervously as Cain entered the thicket to find the three of them standing in a small huddle, staring at DG's left hand. "It's not there anymore, so . . . what does that mean?"
"It means . . . that I don't need it anymore. Everything I need is right here," she tapped on her chest. "Raw, you are no coward. You escaped from Longcoats, got trapped by Papay, jumped off a cliff, got locked in a dungeon, escaped from a tower, and saved me from a hidden crypt."
"Raw do that for DG."
"No, you did it for you. Your courage, the courage that you need, has been inside you all along."
"You know," Glitch chuckled. "I'm at least twice as brave now than I was with a full brain, which means that, if I had no brain, I'd be at least four times braver than when I was brainy."
"Glitch," the princess murmured, her voice thick with emotion. "You're the smartest guy I know. You've helped me remember my past and that's probably the greatest weapon I have right now."
She gathered her two friends into a hug, then watched as they walked out to the clearing surrounding the tower. Cain approached her, glancing down at his right palm to find that his glowing symbol was still there.
"I know what you're doin', Kid," he muttered, trying to keep his voice even. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her look up at him. "I've led men into battle myself."
She glanced at the ground, trying to keep her own voice in check. "And . . . how am I doing?"
"Well, there's less hugging when I do it," a small grin broke through his façade. "But not so bad."
She nodded, moving to leave the thicket. "Look," he stopped her. "If things turn ugly, you will get yourself out . . . right?" Catching the look on her face, he felt nervousness well up inside him. "This is the one time I'm not going to be there to help."
"You've already helped me, Mr. Cain."
That took him by surprise. After everything that had happened, they were back to Mr. Cain?
"I'm serious," he stuttered, sounding remarkably like a headcase himself. "Don't go running in there to save your sister and forget what's really important."
"What's really important?" she asked, her voice breaking slightly as she tried to hold back her emotions, though he could see tears welling in her eyes. "It's family. I don't remember who taught me that."
He felt his heart skip a beat with the look she gave him, and he had to look away. She held out her hand to him, her eyes bright with tears. "Good luck, Mr. Cain."
Before he could think, he had wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, holding her as though he never wanted to let her go. She shifted slightly, surprised when he initiated the hug himself, but finally relaxed in his arms. He ended the hug slowly, drawing away from her, no small amount of regret in his blue eyes. She stiffened when he pulled her closer, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, but she didn't try to pull away, closing her eyes as his hands gently framed her face. He pulled her into another embrace, stroking her hair.
"You take care of yourself in there, Deege," he murmured.
"You too, Wyatt," she replied.
"I fix shoulder later," Raw grumbled, smiling. Cain grinned back at him as the three of them pushed through the double doors into the room where the Royal family was waiting. A small figure separated from the dark silhouette of four people in the middle of the room, dodging around her family to meet her friends.
Cain could tell she was tired, though her smile was bright.
"Thank you."
She came to each in turn, wrapping each in an embrace, before she joined her family on the balcony. A few moments later, warm light bathed the room as one sun and then the other appeared from behind the moon. "There's the OZ I remember," the youngest princess murmured. "I'm so glad to be home."
The family remained there for some long moments, finally together after fifteen years, before Ahamo finally broke the silence.
"We should go and check on the Resistance fighters, help out where we can. It's time to rebuild our kingdom."
The Queen, Ahamo, and Azkadellia slowly filed out of the room, the Consort stopping briefly. "Thank you, gentlemen, for helping my daughter. You are all welcome to remain with us as long as you wish. I would think that we will soon have posts open in the Central City palace that could use men of your fine standing."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Cain murmured, bowing slightly, followed by Glitch and Raw. Ahamo finally left, and the three men turned to the balcony, where DG still stood, looking out over the kingdom. The Viewer and headcase shared a glance before leaving as well, and Cain found himself alone with the young princess.
He walked up to her slowly, though even at the slight distance he could see her shivering. Standing next to her on the balcony, he glanced at the ground, twenty stories below, watching Resistance fighters scurrying around, helping the wounded, making prisoners of the remaining Longcoats.
"Will you stay?"
The question was quiet, though he was no less surprised by it. His eyes rose to the woman standing beside him. She had wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes more tired than he had thought. He wasn't worried; her adrenaline had to have been running high through this whole thing, and the let-down would be huge. She wavered slightly where she stood, and he wrapped a steadying arm around her shoulders.
"Easy, Kiddo."
"Answer my question, Cain."
His eyebrows rose slightly on his forehead at the tone in her voice. It sounded almost like she was about to cry.
"I'll be stayin', Deege. I already told you before that this would be the one time I wouldn't be around to help you out," he looked at her, their eyes meeting. He reached up to brush a tear from her cheek, turning her to face him. "You can consider that a promise, and a Tin Man always stands by his word."
She smiled, though it seemed sad.
"She was almost right," she murmured, so quietly that Cain wasn't sure if she meant for him to hear.
"Who?"
"The witch. When she captured me at the Northern Island, she said something to me, later. She said . . ." she choked on her words momentarily, and she bit her lip nervously, trying to the keep the tears at bay as she looked away.
"Deege, it's alright, it's just us here," he turned her face so she was still looking at him, repeating the words that seemed to help so much before. "Tell me, it will help if you do."
Tears streamed from her eyes as she suddenly wrapped her arms around him, searching for the strength that he gave her. It was an automatic reaction for him to return the embrace: he no longer felt the need to hide from her.
"She said . . . she said that, the next time she snuffed out my life that there wouldn't be anyone standing by to help me," she whimpered. "And she was almost right, Wyatt!"
He held her as her emotional barriers finally fell, her utter exhaustion finally catching up with her after seven days on the run. She still shook unsteadily, and he gently guided them to sit on the floor of the balcony, leaning back against the railing.
"It's alright, sweetheart, what's important is that she wasn't right. I was right there for you, and I always will be right there, standing by."
"How can you say that? How can you honestly say that and believe it?"
"Call it a hunch," he replied, glancing at his branded palm before turning it to her. She frowned, hiccupping slightly over her tears, before reaching for his hand, her fingers grazing over the symbol that she had once carried. Neither of them knew what caused them to do it, but they suddenly found their hands clasped together, his right to her left, a faint white glow emanating from their palms. It slowly disappeared, and when they pulled their hands away Cain's symbol had also disappeared. All that remained of either brand was a faint pink outline on their palms.
It seemed as though DG was finally wearing down. She snuggled against him, her arm draped over his chest, and her tears slowed. Thinking that she wouldn't be comfortable like that, he carefully lifted her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. She sighed, and he planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I've got you, Deege," he murmured, stroking her hair as her eyes slowly closed, secure in knowing that her Tin Man was always standing by.