Author's Note: Written for the "Spring" prompt at the TM_Challenge LJ Community, where it came in first place. Thanks to everybody who voted!
~o0.0o~
It is spring. There isn't anything in the little bit of scenery he can make out that actually indicates the season, but the sourceless hazy pink and yellow light lacks the chill of winter or the heat of summer. The long grass of the field he finds himself in shifts between green and gold as it waves in a gentle breeze that doesn't seem to touch him.
Cain knows he is far less dressed than normal, even without looking - simply in trousers and a button up shirt, the long sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He can feel soft warm earth beneath his bare feet.
There is a soft, melodic humming coming from somewhere nearby, and when he turns to look he sees her sitting in the long grass. She looks as young and beautiful as the first time he saw her, in a white sleeveless blouse and a long skirt, her legs folded under her as she weaves several pieces of grass together. She softly sings a few notes of the tune, a lullaby he remembers her singing to Jeb.
Adora smiles at him as he settles next to her and takes her hand, forcing her to abandon her weaving.
"She's good for you, you know," Adora says without preamble. His confusion must show on his face; her answering laugh sounds like windchimes on the breeze. "They're all good for you."
"They're not you," Cain replies, sadness creeping into the corners of the soft smile he gives his wife.
"Do they need to be?"
Cain has no answers, but he can see everything he needs to know in her eyes.
~o0.0o~
When he wakes, it's to sunlight streaming through greenery above him, and he can hear laughter and splashing from nearby. His dream is fading quickly, but he still sees snatches of golden pink light and overwhelming peace.
Cain tilts his hat back. Raw is sprawled next to him, soaking up the sun in a warm patch of grass. A dozen yards away, Glitch and DG giggle and screech as they splash each other with icy water at the shore of the lake.
He grins, and joins them.