Note From The Author-- Okay, so this ended up going in a different direction than I had intended, but I really like the way it turned out.

Disclaimer-- I don't own the characters of Tin Man, and I don't own the movie from which a quote mentioned herein comes. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what movie it's from. If you don't know it just ask me and I'll tell you in a review reply or message. :)

There came a time when you reached the point of diminishing returns, and though it pained her to admit it, DG knew she was there. She gave and gave, pouring out her heart and soul to him. She laid everything on the line when she told him she loved him, and it felt like a knife to the heart when he told her that couldn't and wouldn't love her.

Never again, he said, would he allow himself to love someone so completely, not when the odds were against him and the likelihood of losing her was so high. He knew that he wouldn't be able to take it, he said. But she didn't care what he said; she stuck by him, believing that one day it would be different, and he would realize that she wasn't going anywhere.

But no more. She had bared everything she had to him, scraping her soul raw in the process and bleeding until she had nothing left. She couldn't do it anymore, she wouldn't keep hurting herself to try and get through to that stubborn head of his. So she stood in front of him, and she drew her lines before she walked away.

"Damn you Wyatt, I'm not stupid," she forced out. "I know you love me, just like everyone else in the O.Z. knows it."

"Leave it kiddo," he warned. But those icy blue eyes of his were flashing with something deeper and darker than anger.

She nodded. "I am. I can't fathom why it is that you'd rather us both be miserable, but I won't do this anymore." She pressed her hand over her aching heart, swearing she could actually feel it breaking into pieces. "I'm drawing the line."

"DG…"

"No, you're going to listen to me, because this is all that I have left. You don't want me, fine." There were tears shining in her eyes when she said it. "But I won't be here to hold you up and try to convince you otherwise anymore. I've spent so long trailing behind you, trying to be your friend and trying to make you realize that you could have all of me if you'd only just reach out and take it. But not anymore."

He shook his head. "Sweetheart."

"Don't you dare call me that now; not now!" she cried. "You don't get to call me sweetheart and try to soothe the hurt Cain, because you're the one who's done all the damage. I'm leaving for a few months." She could see the pain in his eyes and it made the hurt in her heart all the more worse, because she knew he wouldn't say a word. "When that iced over heart of yours finally cracks and you realize that you may have lost the woman you love forever, come find me. But I'll tell you this Wyatt Cain; I'll never stop loving you, but I will stop waiting, and I will stop hoping. Pray to God that when you finally realize what you've lost you aren't too late."

She went to Finaqua with Az. Their mother didn't need them at the palace, so they bid her, Ahamo and Jeb goodbye, and then DG lay with her head in her sister's lap and wept almost all the way there. When her baby sister finally fell into a troubled sleep, she pulled out her writing supplies and began a letter to Jeb.

"Just out of curiosity, what the hell is your problem?"

Cain looked over at his son from where he rested against the rail at the top of the tower. "You want to explain that to me?" he asked with a frown.

"I know about DG, Dad. I know that she finally just walked away."

"How did you find out about that?" Cain questioned his son.

Jeb held up his left hand, pointing to his ring finger. "She took my wife with her when she did. Az sent me a letter the minute they stopped. Not that I would really need to hear it; it was pretty clear considering how miserable she was before they left, and how miserable you've been ever since."

"It's better this way," he said, turning again to look back out over the O.Z.

The younger man shook his head. "It's better that you're both completely unhappy?"

Cain sighed before he spoke quietly. "I can't give her what she wants Jeb."

"All she wants is to be with you, Dad."

He already knew it, but hearing it again made him feel like someone had put his heart in a vice. "I know, but I can't…"

"Can't what?" Jeb asked roughly, starting to lose his temper. "Can't love her? We all know that's complete bull shit since you're already so deep in love with her that you can hardly see straight."

"Jeb," he warned, turning back to face him again. "You don't understand this."

Jeb shook his head. "Oh I understand it perfectly," he said, advancing on his father with those same blue eyes flashing. "You've loved her since the beginning, but at first you ignored it because it felt like a betrayal. Then you decided to pretend it wasn't there, all because you're afraid she'll end up like mom."

The comment couldn't have been more shocking if he had punched him along with it. "The way that your mother died… it never should have happened."

There were tears shining in his father's eyes as he said it, and it occurred to Jeb that the past two years must have been hell for him, loving one woman and knowing the first he had ever loved never should have died. "I know that Dad, we all do. But she's dead, and she has been for years." His own tears were starting to rise up as he spoke. "That doesn't make you love DG any less."

"She's royalty Jeb, things happen, and I could lose her just as easily as I lost your mother."

"Did it ever occur to you that if anything happens to her, it's going to hurt you just as bad if you don't have her in your life as it would if you did?"

Cain shook his head, sliding down the wall to sit with his back against the freezing concrete. "I've been trying to ignore that one."

Jeb took a seat next to him. "I want to tell you something."

"Fine."

He took a deep breath before he spoke again. "When I first realized I had feelings for Az, needless to say I panicked. I was worried that she may think it was all a joke after everything that she went through or that my men wouldn't accept my relationship. I was always worrying about it, and one day DG came and found me. She told me that she knew I had feelings for Az and that Az had feelings for me, and she wondered why the hell neither of us hadn't done anything about it."

Cain couldn't hold back the laugh. "Sounds like DG."

"It was classic DG really," he said with a smile. "Everything just came out, and when I finished explaining all my worries and fears, she just looked at me for a bit before she said anything."

"And when she did say something?" he asked.

"She told me there was this line from a film on the Other Side that she loved and that she thought it really applied to Azkadellia and I; and I think it applies to you and her."

He looked over at his son with a sad smile. "What's that?"

"'I'd rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.'" Jeb told his stunned father. "It fits us Cain men, I think; because I realized that I would rather have half an hour with Az than a lifetime without her." He stood and looked down at him, staring into eyes identical to his own. "I think that if you would open up and let yourself feel, you would realize that you'd rather have DG in your life, whether she's there for three weeks or seventy years, than live your life without her."

Without saying another word Jeb turned and walked away, leaving his father to sit there and contemplate everything that he'd just been told. It would be some time before Wyatt Cain would come down from that tower.

DG discovered that Finaqua helped. Nothing could completely soothe the ache she felt or put her heart back together, but being there with Az and pretending they were children again at least took the edge off.

They had been there nearly a month when a very confused Azkadellia found DG on the banks of the lake, just beginning to towel off after a swim. "I just heard from one of the guards that Jeb is here," she said, sounding just a bit dazed.

"Okay," DG said with a smile, "and this is bad why?" Then she looked up and saw her sister's face, and she knew. "He's not alone is he?" she asked quietly.

Az shook her head. "No, he's not."

DG straightened up, refusing to let herself hope. She very calmly put her robe and shoes back on then braced herself. "We shouldn't leave them waiting then."

They walked back to the palace in complete silence. Just before they reached the doors, Az reached over to take her sister's hand, lending her support whatever happened beyond the threshold. With a deep breath, DG opened the door to face the source of all her current pain.

There he was, looking travel weary, that hat of his covered in dust and his blue eyes unreadable beneath the brim. Of their own volition her feet stopped moving, and she found that she simply couldn't budge from that spot just inside the doorway. Az dropped her hand to go stand out of the way with her husband, and DG and Cain were left staring at each other, both unsure of their footing, neither sure who should speak first. She started to move, stopped herself and felt her hands tremble as she realized he was coming to her.

It was amazing just how fast he could cover over fifty feet. In what seemed like no time at all he was in front of her, and before she could say anything she was in his arms. He crushed her against him, holding on like she would float away if he let go. It wasn't what she had expected, and when the tears came she let them out, sobbing against his chest. He held her as she rode it out, and when the tears subsided and her body stopped shaking he tipped her chin up so he could see her. She was a mess, her eyes red and her face entirely too pale, hair still wet from her swim beginning to dry in tangles; and she was the most gorgeous creature he had ever laid eyes on.

"What happened?" she asked helplessly.

"My son's pretty smart," he said quietly.

She nodded. "He must be if it only took him a few weeks to get you to admit to what I've been trying to convince you of for years."

Cain couldn't help but laugh. "I'm a complete dumbass," he told her, using one of her favorite phrases.

"If you're expecting me to disagree you're going to be disappointed," DG told him. "But I'm hoping that you being here means that your dumbass days are through."

"They are. DG I don't expect you to just believe me and forgive me at the drop of a hat."

DG smiled up at him. "Why not?" Before he could stop her she had tugged the fedora from his head and very deliberately let it fall to the floor. "There, hat dropped."

"DG, after everything I put you through…"

She shook her head. "You really don't get it. You put me through hell, but all that I ever wanted was you."

"I can't fix it all."

"No, you can't," she agreed. "But you can fix a lot of it. The rest, well I'll get there eventually. For the moment… I just never dared to think you may actually get here. What made you come? I mean really finally convinced you?"

He reached out to brush away a tear that was still clinging to her cheek. "Jeb told me about something that you said to him when he and Az got together; it made me think long and hard about everything."

She knew exactly what he was talking about, and she found she couldn't resist quoting that film again. "I'd rather have thirty minutes of wonderful…"

He took over for her. "Than a lifetime of nothing special; I finally understand that. So I figured I had better get myself out here and do like you said. I spent the entire trip here praying I wasn't too late. Am I, DG?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

"No, I don't think I do."

As they finally kissed for the very first time, Jeb brushed a tear from Az's cheek much as his father had done moments before. "She really told you that?" she asked.

Jeb nodded. "She really did. I think it was pretty much a no brainer for both my father and I."

"What?"

"Taking a chance for thirty minutes of wonderful."