In which Cain and DG pretend to be friends and are spied upon.

The suns were setting, and natural darkness slowly took the O.Z. in its grasp. DG sighed, a smile hovering on her lips as she watched night arrive. The suns sank below the ridge of the far-off mountains and were swallowed. The swing creaked as she gently pushed herself back and forth. Twilight surrounded her, but this was a good darkness. Not like the darkness the witch had tried to force upon them just hours previous. She shook her head in amazement. It felt like days.

"Why don't you come inside?" A voice sounded from behind her. She turned her head only slightly, dark hair spilling over her shoulder. She caught the familiar brim of his hat in her eye, and she smiled as she turned back to face the shining waters.

"Good evening, Mr. Cain," she said in return. This wasn't the answer he'd wanted, and she heard him utter his usual frustrated sigh. She smirked to herself, and only listened as his footsteps hit hard wood as he climbed up into the gazebo after her.

"Cold's gonna set in real fast, Princess," he said, coming up to stand beside her. She glanced up, like a child, evaluating the situation.

"You don't have to call me that," she said, still swinging in the gray light left between sunset and night.

"What? Princess?" He glanced down at her, one of his thumbs sitting casually in his belt.

"Yeah," she responded.

"Fine. Cold's gonna set in real fast, kiddo."

She harrumphed slightly but acquiesced. She stood from the swing, stretched for a moment, and then stood beside him. He offered his arm, and she took it after only a moment's contemplation. She was held close at his side, and, as always, his eyes were alert and bright for any trouble that might arise.

Once they'd reached the warm hearth in the heart of the castle, DG realized just how right Cain had been. The breeze from the window was chill as ice. He left her at the fireplace to shut the window with all the finesse of an untrained bear. The Queen laughed her lovely, airy laugh that almost didn't exist. DG almost hadn't seen them all sitting there.

The long, luxuriant sofa held three beings—her mother on the far right, Ahamo on the far left, and Azkadellia seated between them. She had a small, pretty smile on her face, one that DG hoped to get reacquainted with very soon. The Queen clutched Az's hand tightly in her own, and all three were watching DG with softened, weary expressions. The day had been long for all of them.

On small ottomans by the fire sat Glitch—Ambrose, DG had to remind herself—and Raw. Both had been invited, along with Cain, to Finaqua to rest away the day's troubles and tension. They had all gratefully agreed. Cain had apparently asked his son to join them, but he had declined in favor of staying with his troops and caring for the casualties. Cain's eyes had been sad upon his return to the carriage, but he'd smiled politely and thanked the Queen again for her kindness.

His eyes had changed over the trip, however, and they were as bright as DG had ever seen them. He removed his hat in present company and sat on the rug before the fire, kindly refusing another stool offered by Ahamo.

"Hey," Glitch said as her eyes fell on him. He was smiling brightly. Her own smile in return was slightly sadder than she'd hoped. Without the proper equipment and surgeons, they couldn't yet return his brain to his zippered head. "Something wrong?"

"I don't think so," she replied as she took a seat between Glitch on his ottoman and Cain on the bare floor. She took a moment to warm her hands by holding them close to the fire.

"Here," Cain said, tired of watching her turn her hands over and over in attempts to warm them properly. He took both of her hands in his, completely enclosing them and trapping their heat together. Neither of them looked up, but their company did indeed take notice.

Glitch raised an eyebrow at the Queen, who, in turn, raised an eyebrow at Ahamo. The man shrugged his shoulders in a broad gesture, then turned and pointed to Glitch, as if he might have the answers. A smile slowly took Glitch's features, and he nodded in a minute way. He then not-so-subtly jerked his head in their direction and made a strange sign using both hands that no one could decipher.

Still warming DG's hands with his, Cain lowered an odd glare in Glitch's direction. "What're you doing?"

"Er," Glitch began, letting his hands drop off beside him. Raw chuckled lightly into his paws. "Thought I saw a bird?"

Cain simply shook his head, half smirking. He returned DG's hands to her, pulling his collar up around his neck in a nonchalant gesture. "That feel any better?"

DG moved her fingers in and out, trying to forget the residual feeling of Cain's hands imprinted on them. "Yeah." She flashed a smile up at him and returned to inspecting her hands. "Thanks."

"Well," Ahamo said, rising to his feet in a terrible imitation of a yawning stretch, "I think it's time for me to hit the hay."

"What, already?" DG asked, turning to face him, utterly shocked that they would separate.

"I had a long day of believing my daughters to be dead," Ahamo said, walking over and planting a kiss on her forehead. "We should all get some rest."

"I'll come with you," interjected Azkadellia, quickly catching on. She took her father's hand and stood off the sofa, joined by her mother in a move as soft and fluid as water.

"The bedrooms are only up the stairs and down the right-hand wing," the Queen said softly to the four still gathered around the fire. Glitch nodded enthusiastically, and Raw rose to bow as they exited the room. DG watched them go, but Glitch's hand on her shoulder stayed her.

"That's just a formality… I think." He smiled to erase any doubt. "The night is young, right? You just saved the world, DG!"

"With lots of help," she added, looking around at her friends. Cain smirked, turning his hat over in his hands.

"We couldn't have done it without you, DG," he said. "Sure, we might've been able to shut down the power in the Brain Room, but then what?" He sat up slightly straighter.

"DG saved Azkadellia," Raw said, nodding. "Raw couldn't do that."

"Me neither," Glitch added. "I would've glitched my way to an early grave, that's what would've happened."

All eyes fell on Cain, and a smile broke over his face as he watched DG. "I woulda shot her."

She found herself laughing despite the macabre subject. Glitch and Raw exchanged a glance. Glitch stood slowly, not as sudden as Ahamo had done, and hopefully not as terribly acted.

"You know, I forgot where the bedrooms are," Glitch said, and whether he was glitching or lying, only Raw knew.

"Raw will show you," he said, standing to meet the gangly man. He placed his paws on Glitch's shoulders and gently prodded him toward the door. "Be back soon," he said over his shoulder, assuring DG and Cain that they would not be left alone forever. Cain placed his hat back on his head as he watched them go, and then jerked a thumb in their direction.

"You need to go with them?"

"No," she said. "I know where my room is."

"Yeah, me too," Cain said after a moment of thought.

They sat in silence for far too long, long enough for even Glitch on his own to stumble into his room. And yet they remained.

All at once, DG said: "Cain—" But she was cut off.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said quickly, but his tone wasn't nearly as harsh as he'd hoped it would be. "Not yet anyways. With it all happening so fast back there… I didn't mean anything by it." He immediately regretted his wording, and he turned to wholly face her. "Well, you know what I mean."

She shook her head, her round eyes catching every flicker of the firelight. "Not really, no. A kiss is a kiss, Cain."

"Well…. Yeah," he admitted. His hands were hanging awkwardly, as if he wanted to do something with them. "Let's… just forget it ever happened, all right?" She liked the color his face had taken on during the course of the conversation, and she smiled as she dropped her eyes to her lap.

"Now you sound just like Toto," she murmured. After she allowed a pause to come between them, she continued. "How am I supposed to forget that?" She asked, looking back up at him, her head slightly cocked to one side. She could remember everything. She liked remembering. "We're just supposed to be friends?"

His eyes darted around the room, and his voice was slightly thin when he responded: "Yeah."

They continued their silence for another long, agonizing minute of not looking at each other. "Okay," she said at last. They met gazes again, and hers was defeated. "Whatever you say, Mr. Cain."

His eyebrows knit together at the look that welled behind her eyes, and he tried to ignore the hitch in her breath. He sighed, very slowly, and then reached his arm around her shoulders.

"C'mere, kiddo." He cinched her close against his side, his arm tight around her. They stared thoughtlessly into the fire, and without contestation, she leaned her head carefully to lean onto his shoulder. She could feel him breathing under her ear, hear his breath in and out of his lungs.

Blinking, she looked up to catch him watching her. Blue on blue, their eyes met and mingled in the air between them. The fire made shadows dance on her face, and the light caught in her eyes in a spectacular way. Unthinkingly, he brushed her bangs from her eyes to see them better. He smoothed his thumb carefully on the line they made across her forehead.

She caught his hand with hers and brought it down between them. "You know," she said, sitting up further on her knees to match his height. "We could pretend to be friends."

He opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and shut it tightly to swallow the nervousness he suddenly found living there. "I don't know, DG."

"What if I kissed you this time?" she asked, her eyes unexpectedly close. "Not you pulling me into one of the little corners in Az's tower without even asking." She touched her nose to his, blinking very slowly.

She could see him red all the way to his eyebrows, and it made her smile. At last, he nodded, his eyes searching all over her face. "We could pretend to be friends," he repeated. He only had to lean forward one paltry inch to take her lips with his. She didn't have to think any further, and simply let her arms snake up around his neck to pull him even closer.

It was slower this time. When compared to the fevered way he'd kissed her in the quiet little alcove of Azkadellia's fortress, anything was going to be tame. But now, he meant it. He meant every little thing that he did. He meant the way he tucked her hair behind her ears, the way his fingers drew down her neck. He meant for her to shiver like that, and the way he smiled against her lips only proved it.

They cut off abruptly when a loud crashing noise sounded from just outside the doors to the sitting room. DG jumped and her hands clutched hard onto Cain's overcoat. His hand went instinctively around her and his other went to the gun at his hip.

After a tense moment, Cain rolled his eyes and groaned, shoving his gun back into its holster.

"You two are the worst spies I've ever seen in my life," Cain said as he stood, helping DG to her feet to stand against his side. The door opened to reveal Glitch and Raw in the hallway beyond, the latter looking sheepish and the former rubbing his head in pain.

"I'd be better if I had more than half a brain," Glitch replied. He smiled through whatever pain he was in. "I used to be quite the sneak. Maybe."

"As slippery as you are," Cain said, not relinquishing the girl at his side, "I gotta say it's pretty rude to spy on anyone. Especially DG."

Raw only smiled, placing one hand on DG's shoulder as way of apology. "Very happy," he said, his gruff voice full of his own sort of joy. "Very warm on the inside. Wants to feel like this always."

"That's none of your business," Cain said, blushing again. DG could only laugh, stepping away from Cain only to make sure Glitch wasn't bleeding.

They caught eyes again from across the room, and Cain's lips pulled up in a soft smile. She mirrored him, very slowly. In the morning, it was back to pretending to be friends. The night, however, was still young.


AN: Hello again, all. It seems you just can't keep me away! Okay, what I was thinking with this was that it could easily be a continuance of the previous chapter, but I had been intending this to be a collection of drabbles, ficlets, what-have-you. So, I give y'all the option to take it however you like. I just wanna warn ahead of time that the chapters will not be in any specific order whatsoever, and will appear as they appear in my head. Hope it continues to live up to expectations, because WOW, that was one heckuva turn out! Thanks so much to everyone who read and to all the reviewers. You make my day! I bid you all keep reading and stay awesome!